PBNU Chair Affirms No Government Intervention At The 34th Congress

JAKARTA - Chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board (PBNU) Marsudi Syuhud emphasized that there was no government intervention at the 34th Nahdlatul Ulama Conference, because NU has its own agenda and is not a government agenda.

"Because congresses sometimes have an agenda that can criticize the government. A conference to criticize the government has a constructive meaning," Marsudi said in a written statement quoted by Antara, Monday, December 13.

When delivering his presentation at the #SAFARI24 Discussion by Total Politics, Marsudi actually questioned what is meant by government intervention, especially which government agencies.

"The one who knows is Gus Romli. If Kiai Said mentions a government agency, you have to ask which government agency. Because it's clear where the direction is going. A government ministry that one candidate can use. In fact, Kiai Said doesn't have a ministry that he can use to support him. kiai," said Marsudi.

On the same occasion, NU activist Guntur Romli also denied any government intervention.

"There is no government intervention in this congress. It is different from the Cipasung Congress where there was intervention from the Suharto government at that time," said Guntur, who is also a politician from the Indonesian Solidarity Party.

PBNU will hold the 34th Nahdlatul Ulama Congress in Lampung Province on December 23-25, 2021. Previously, there was a debate about determining the date for the congress due to the prediction of the rising COVID-19 pandemic and the Government's policy of implementing PPKM Level 3 simultaneously.

There are parties who want to advance the date of the 34th NU Congress to December 17, 2021, and there are those who want to push the date back to December 31, 2021.

"But when the PPKM is revoked on December 23-25, substantially the differences stop," said Marsudi.

SC chairman of the NU Congress Muhammad Nuh explained that the 34th Congress would focus on discussing the foundations of NU for the second 100 years, and SC would conduct outreach to regions to get additional input on the congress material.

"So, at the time of the discussion, the process was fast," he said.