•    HOME   
•    NEWS   
•    BUSINESS   
•    INTERNATIONAL   
•    TECH   
•    SPORTS   
•    LIFE & TIMES   
•    OPINION   
•    MY JAKARTA   
•    BLOGS   

Plagued by the lure of politics and no longer known solely for its spiritual and social guidance of tens of millions of Muslims in rural areas, the Nahdlatul Ulama, the country’s largest Islamic organization, needs to decide its future through the leader it selects during its national congress next week in South Sulawesi.

Marwan Ja’far, chairman of the National Awakening Party’s (PKB) central executive board, said on Friday that the NU was at a critical point and needed to elect a candidate that could not only lead, but guide the NU out of politics.

“We should get back to the core objectives of the NU. It should be led by a cleric and not a politician,” Marwan said. “If we allow the NU to once again be led by politicians, NU’s destruction will be a matter of time. It will receive no respect.”

The organization’s 32nd congress, held from Tuesday through Sunday, will be attended by 3,000 members from across the archipelago. Hasyim Muzadi, a vice presidential candidate in the 2004 election, currently leads the 40 million strong organization founded by Hasyim Asy’ari, and led for 15 years by his eldest grandchild, Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, who became the nation’s fourth president in 1999 after he helped found the PKB to accommodate NU’s political aspirations.

Several candidates have expressed optimism that they could guide the group away from political involvement.

Candidates such as Ahmad Bagja, currently secretary general of NU, senior NU official Sholahuddin Wahid and NU deputy chairman Masdar Farid Mas’udi, have all preached about returning NU back to its core of pursuing spiritual, social and economic empowerment.

Masdar has acknowledged that many local NU branches’ political involvement had gone far beyond what could be considered acceptable by the organization. He pointed to the high numbers of members mobilized in elections.

Despite the commitments pledged by candidates to put NU back on course, Marwan said he basically saw the potential leaders as being divided into two major groups — those inclined toward political activity and those who want to lead the NU back to its pure social core.

“There are two blocs, they just need to choose. If the congress votes for the more politically-inclined candidates, then NU will experience further degradation,” Masdar said.

Lily Wahid, sister of Gus Dur and a lawmaker from the PKB, offered examples of how the organization had driven its leaders to enter politics, including when current NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi ran for vice president, former Minister of Women’s Empowerment Khofifah Indar Parawansa ran for gubernatorial elections in East Java, and how in the 2009 presidential election the organization threw its support to former Vice President Jusuf Kalla.

“There are many temptations, do you think it’s easy to just ignore political offers?” she said. “It’s very difficult for them to not get trapped.”

Abdul Moqsith Ghazali, an expert from the Wahid Institute, said that in the future, the NU needs a figure who is not merely religious but also had the qualities of a strong leader. He said that the ideal candidate needed to have a strong intellectual background and a broad knowledge about Indonesia as well as knowing what was need for the NU to grow.

“And the figure needs to know about politics. He should know how politics works so that he is not lured into politics,” Abdul said.