NU Congress Becomes A National Celebration, Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto And TNI Commander Intervene

Coordinating Minister Airlangga Hartarto proposed an alternative to accommodate the overwhelming number of participants at the 34th NU Congress. (photo; ekon.go.id).

JAKARTA - Ahead of the 34th Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Congress which will be held December 22-23 2021, Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto as Chair of the PC-PEN Committee directly leads the Coordination Meeting (Rakor) which discusses the preparation for the Muktamar event.

This coordination meeting was attended by several Ministers, the Commander of the TNI, the Head of the Police, the NU Executive Board (PB), the Governor of Lampung and the Chair of the Committee for the 34th NU Congress virtually, on Saturday, December 18.

“This meeting was held to check preparations for the 34th NU Congress, which will be held hybridly in Lampung. The assessment of the Lampung Province pandemic situation is already at Level 1," said Airlangga.

At this coordination meeting, the committee explained in full the Pre-Congress strategy. Starting from the online registration process, to the educational process on the implementation of the Health Protocol. In addition, there is also the application of health protocol management standards at the time of the congress and monitoring after the congress. All of this was coordinated by the 34th NU National Conference Committee.

In this coordination meeting, the Minister of Health, Budi Gunadi Sadikin, said that in order to protect the community, the achievement of vaccinations in Lampung Province, especially in the areas where the event is being held, must continue to be improved so that it is in line with the target.

Central Lampung, as the location for the event, has only achieved 61.49% of Dose-1 vaccine. This is of course still below the government's target by the end of this year. For this reason, acceleration must be carried out to reach 70% with full support from the Committee together with the TNI and Polri.

In addition, Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas explained that the Committee needed to determine the number of participants who would attend the congress. This is important to match the number of invitees and to ensure that the protocol for organizing the event is smooth.

It is understood that the 34th NU Congress was not only an ordinary meeting event, but also a gathering place for all NU residents. However, because there is currently a pandemic, the Committee needs to be firm and must ensure that the Participants who attend are truly in accordance with the invitation and in an amount that is in accordance with the capacity of the location of the event.

To anticipate the presence of other groups outside the invitation, Coordinating Minister Airlangga proposed an alternative to accommodate them.

"If there are other groups who are still present, arrangements can be made so that they do not enter the location of the opening ceremony, but other locations are provided which are facilitated with wide screens so that they can still watch live. For that, canalization and regulation are very necessary," said Coordinating Minister Airlangga.

In response to this, the TNI Commander General Andika Perkasa and the Assistant Chief of the National Police Inspector General Imam Sugianto stated that they were ready to fully assist in organizing all activities and events in the 34th NU Congress. For example, starting from the acceleration of vaccination, to maintaining order and security at the event.

In this Coordination Meeting, the PB NU party, represented by Muhammad Nuh, expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the Government, for all the attention and all the support given directly in coordinating the preparations for the NU Congress which is held every five years.

The PB NU and in particular the 34th NU National Conference Committee, are very open to full coordination with the Central, Regional Government and the TNI/POLRI, so that the entire series of events of the congress can be held with discipline in implementing health protocols.

Also present at the Coordination Meeting were the Head of the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB), and the Regional Secretary of Lampung Province, as well as the Minister of Home Affairs represented by the Director General of Politics and PUM of the Ministry of Home Affairs.