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

Does Nahdlatul Ulama, the country’s largest Islamic organization, really want to elect a leader who will guide it out of the murky world of politics?

This question was raised again on Sunday after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono met with senior NU clerics Said Agil Siradj and Sholahuddin Wahid over the weekend, although a presidential aide stressed that it was because the NU officials had formally asked to meet with the president and not the other way around.

“I can confirm that both of them asked to meet with President Yudhoyono,” Heru Lelono, the president’s public relations adviser, told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. “It’s a great thing that the largest Islamic organization wants to meet to discuss the nation’s development goals.”

Both clerics are candidates to contest the NU chairmanship at the organization’s four-day national congress in Makassar, South Sulawesi, beginning on Tuesday.

Once solely known for its grassroots spiritual, educational and social guidance to Muslims across the country, the 40 million-strong NU — which was led by former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid for 15 years — has strayed from its social objectives to feed its growing political ambition.

Sholahuddin, the brother of the late Gus Dur, confirmed in a telephone interview on Sunday that he had indeed asked for the meeting with Yudhoyono, saying that among other things, he needed to report to the president about how his NU-run boarding school in Jombang, East Java, was getting along.

“I thanked him for the attention he gave us when my brother passed away,” Sholahuddin added. “Of course, since the timing is very close to the congress, we talked about that too. But there wasn’t anything like the president supporting this or that candidate.”

When asked if he would be able to guide NU out of politics, Sholahuddin said the organization needed someone who did not give in to political temptations.

“I can say ‘no’ to such temptations,” said Sholahuddin, the former vice presidential candidate who ran with Gen. Wiranto in the 2004 presidential election.

Said Agil, however, told the Jakarta Globe that he “had received the call from Cikeas,” and met with Yudhoyono at the president’s private residence in Cikeas, near Bogor, West Java.

“The president expects NU to maintain its functions as one of the nation’s primary unifiers,” he said, adding that he was committed to strengthening the organization through its economic, social and educational programs.

“I may be a university lecturer, but I am also an NU activist. It is best to think of me that way,” he said.

Luthfi Assyaukanie, a political analyst from Paramadina University, said the meetings with the clerics were not surprising.

“President Yudhoyono clearly has an interest in the future leader of NU,” he said. “How the future leader will lead the organization, what kind of color will it give to Islamic growth in Indonesia to make it more tolerant and progressive. This matters.”

Luthfi said he thought the best NU leader would be the one most likely to return it to its former glory, as during Gus Dur’s time.

“NU needs someone as qualified as Gus Dur,” he said. “Among all the candidates, the closest to that is Said Agil and Ulil Abshar Abdallah.”