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NU demand for Cabinet seats creates friction in Jokowi camp
Six ministers in the current Cabinet are affiliated with NU, but there is speculation that the organization is looking for even more.
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President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo (left) and vice president-elect Maruf Amin meet in Jakarta last week before Jokowi's departure to Japan to attend the G20 meeting. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
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ndonesia’s largest Islamic mass organization Nahdlatul Ulama’s (NU) request for ministerial positions in the President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Ma’ruf Amin administration may create divisions in the ruling coalition.
NU secretary-general Helmy Faishal Zaini said the organization had directly told Jokowi and Ma’ruf of its request for seats but had yet to receive a reply.
“The green light is not on yet. It’s a yellow light for now,” Helmy told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Helmi added that the NU already had some names that it would later submit to the President, consisting of figures outside the political parties in Jokowi’s coalition. Among the political parties in the coalition is the National Awakening Party (PKB), which is regarded as the unofficial political wing of NU.
NU's eyeing of Cabinet positions was brought to the forefront because of recent comments from senior NU cleric Agoes “Gus Ali” Masyhuri.
"Insyaallah [God willing], no political support is free," he said in June.
NU's public backing of Jokowi and its placement of senior NU cleric Ma'ruf in the vice-presidential slot are widely considered to be key factors in Jokowi's reelection, which was fueled largely by overwhelming wins in the NU strongholds of Central and East Java, which are NU strongholds.
