KH Said Aqil: For NU And Pesantren, Jaga NKRI Is A Trust

34th NU Congress in Central Lampung

CENTRAL LAMPUNG - Chairman of PBNU KH Said Aqil Siroj confirmed the position of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in the state. KH Said Aqil guaranteed NU's firm stance to continue to protect the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia and the constitution as non-negotiable.

"For NU and Islamic boarding schools, protecting the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia is a mandate because only by being loyal to the constitution can a common order be established," said LH Said Aqil at Darussa'adah Islamic Boarding School, Gunung Sugih, Central Lampung, Wednesday, December 22.

KH Said Aqil did not speak casually. He reflected on his experience of living for a dozen years in Saudi Arabia so that he fully understood the importance of NU for Indonesia and the world.

"With all due respect, religion in Arabia from the start has not been an active element in filling the meaning of nationalism. If you read the history and constitutional texts of Arab countries, you will immediately know how expensive and valuable the text of the Preamble to the 1945 Constitution is," said KH. Said Aqil who was greeted with applause from the congress participants.

"In Arabia, nationalist fighters are not religious fighters. Religious fighters are not nationalist fighters," he stressed.

"In Indonesia, at the same time, religious fighters are nationalist fighters," he continued.

Said KH Said Aqil, for example, in the Middle East, not many nationalist clerics are found. Vice versa, it is very rare to find nationalists who are at the same time ulama.

"As a result, nationalism and religion are often contradictory and then one after another sectarian conflicts are born. What we are seeing in Palestine, Myanmar, Rohingya, Israel, Somalia, Syria, Yemen and Afghanistan are a series of incomplete answers to the challenges of the times," he explained. .

Nationalism and Religion are two mutually reinforcing poles. The two should not be contradicted, like the will of Kiai Hasyim Asy'ari which was agreed and voiced by thousands of Islamic boarding school scholars.

"And thus we understand that the test of tawasuth's attitude, the test of moderating the polarization of the two extreme poles, has been typical of NU since its inception. Those who don't understand NU's firm stance on HTI and FPI may not really understand how heavy the mandate to moderate the poles is. extreme in this country," he said.