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Gus Yahya Staquf’s volte-face on feminism?
Gus Yahya advised Fatayat and Muslimat, two women’s organizations under NU, that “NU doesn't need to go along with various gender ideologies developed from other cultural domains. I remind Fatayat and Muslimat, don't get involved in feminism."
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Activists take part in a demonstration for better women's rights on International Women’s Day in Surabaya, East Java, on March 8, 2022. (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
I
t’s not uncommon in Indonesia for people to be against feminism. In fact, there is a whole movement against it as evidenced by the hashtags #IndonesiaTanpaFeminis (Indonesia without feminists) and #UninstallFeminism, which started to emerge in 2019. I also found a photo uploaded on InstaStory showing dozens of women wearing headscarves clenching their right fists accompanied by a photo caption: "Women who want their generation not to be poisoned by feminism."
Looking at this, you could hardly be blamed if you got the impression that Islam is against feminism. Is that really the case?
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) is said to be the largest Muslim social organization in Indonesia, in fact, in the world. As of 2019, it had 91.2 million members. So, you can imagine what the head of the NU Central Executive Board (PBNU) says, holds a lot of sway.
In December 2021, Yahya Cholil Staquf, popularly known as “Gus Yahya”, was chosen to head the PBNU, for a period of five years (2021-2026). Around mid-January 2022, he appointed 11 women to sit on its executive board, the first time ever since 1926 when NU was founded. It was truly a major and extremely significant breakthrough for NU and for the nation.
In a press release, Gus Yahya stated, "Women leaders are included because there is an urgent need…[as]…there are big problems related to women's issues that have to be resolved. We invite the toughest and strongest female figures.”
He was not kidding. Among the women were some of the nation’s most staunch and influential Muslim feminists, including Sinta Nuriyah and Alissa Wahid. They are respectively the widow and daughter of the late Abdurrahman Wahid, popularly known as Gus Dur, who was head of PBNU between 1984-1999 and Indonesia’s fourth president from October 1999 to July 2001.
Gus Yahya served as Gus Dur’s presidential spokesperson during his time in office, and had been strongly influenced by the pluralist and inclusive ideas of his boss, long before his presidency.
