Kang Said leadership victory for moderate Muslims, experts say

Makassar, NU Online
The election of KH Said Aqil Siradj (Kang Said) as chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama will safeguard the traditionally moderate stance of the country’s largest Muslim organization, political analysts said on Sunday.

Ikrar Nusa Bakti, from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), welcomed Said Aqil’s victory because it came at a time when NU was becoming too involved in politics.<>

“NU has been known as one of the guardians of the country’s moderate Muslim conviction,” Ikrar said.

“But it has focused too much on politics under [former chairman] Hasyim Muzadi,” he added.

Airlangga Pribadi, a political expert from Airlangga University, said the NU was deviating from its duties to its constituents.

“NU has to tackle many issues and strengthen its values because the effects of terrorism and underdevelopment are starting to make itself evident,” he said.

M Shofan, of Jakarta’s Paramadina University, said he saw a depoliticized NU under Said Aqil’s term. Shofan called Said Aqil a “true scholar” and saw his leadership as a departure from his predecessor, Muzadi.

Said Aqil on Sunday vowed to focus on developing boarding schools and guaranteed they would not tolerate terrorism. He said NU would respect the spirit of pluralism while staying true to its founding ideology.

“We want to spread the values of boarding schools — ones that are egalitarian, tolerant and moderate — to all Muslims in our country,” he said.

“Amid the clash of different views among hardliners, radicals, terrorists, radical sectarian, secularists and liberalists, the most important role of boarding schools is to maintain the proper Muslim values.”

Top government officials, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, have recently encouraged NU to scale back its political involvement, saying it was distracting the organization from its spiritual mission.

“We hope that NU can get back to its noble khittah [the group’s founding principle that bars politics],” Yudhoyono said recently.

Ulil Abshar Abdalla, an NU member who is considered to be one of the organization’s more liberal thinkers, gave Said Aqil his vote of confidence, calling the new leader “open minded and has the characteristics of the ideal NU ulema.”

Said Aqil, 56, secured the position after winning 294 votes out of 496 in a race against former Golkar Party lawmaker Slamet Effendy Jusuf, who was considered a dark horse.

The man expected to provide Said Aqil’s strongest challenge, senior NU figure Salahuddin Wahid, failed to secure 99 nominating votes.

Sahal Mahfud, who was reelected as the chairman of NU’s legal advisory board, said there were too many issues that the group needed to address and needed to back off politics. He retained his position at NU after his closest contender, Hasyim, backed out from the polls.

“The most important thing right now is to go back to NU’s core objectives, because that’s something we haven’t been doing in the last few years. I want that to be this leadership’s priority,” Sahal said. NU’s core objectives are to provide spiritual, educational and social guidance to Muslims nationwide at the grassroots level.

“It’s about delivering on these objectives,” Sahal said, adding NU would maintain an impartial relationship with the government and work to keep its followers unified.

After being elected chairman on Saturday, Said Aqil said he ran for the position with no other purpose but to serve NU.

“I am not interested in any political offers. I will never run for president or vice president,” he said.

“For me, the Nahdlatul Ulama chairmanship is the highest position [of all].”

NU, which was established in 1926, claims to have 40 million followers.

Since former President Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid assumed leadership of NU, the organization has been considered the defender of pluralism. (jg/dar)