Chairman Of The First Syuro Council Affirms PKB And PBNU No Structural Relations

Vice President Ma'ruf Amin arrived at KCIC Halim Station, Jakarta to KCIC Tegalluar Station, West Java, Thursday (1/8/2024)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the PKB First Syuro Council, KH Ma'ruf Amin has opened his voice about the recent heated PKB and PBNU conflicts. Kiai Ma'ruf emphasized that there is no structural relationship between PKB and PBNU, even though both have historical relationships. "Yes, I was the head of Team Lima for the formation of PKB. I am the chairman of the PKB's first Shura Council before Gus Dur as well as me. So actually PBNU's relationship with PKB is an aspirational relationship, cultural relations, and historical relationships, there is no structural relationship," Ma'ruf told reporters, Thursday, August 1. "So only PKB brings aspirations for NU in politics. So they don't intervene with each other, so they have independence," he continued. The Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia considered that there should be no need for conflict between PKB and PBNU. Instead, according to Ma'ruf, both of them should work together well and work with each other with their respective duties. Where, said Ma'ruf, PBNU remains on the issue of community development and PKB in the political realm. "It seems that you don't have to continue your task. So if there is a conflict, it is a bit strange too. Because the task is different," said Ma'ruf. The former Rais Aam Nahdlatul Ulama also hopes that the conflict between PKB and PBNU will not widen. Because he reminded, both have their respective paths. "Yes, focus on each of their duties, so there is no conflict. Don't come here, if one enters here or one enters here, don't enter each other, that's my hope. Hopefully it will go well," he concluded. Previously, the former Secretary General of PKB for the period 2005-2007 and 2009-2014, Lukman Edy gave information to the Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) Executive Board yesterday afternoon. The statement lasted for about 2 hours. Lukman Edy explained the issue of disharmony between PKB and PBNU. According to him, one of the triggers was because the General Chairperson of PKB, Muhaimin Iskandar or Cak Imin removed the authority of the Shura Council which contained NU kiai in making party decisions. The removal of the Syuro Council's authority occurred when PKB held a congress in Bali in 2019. At that time, Cak Imin returned to his position as chairman of the party for further management. "In the past, the mandatory of the PKB Congress was the Shura Council. It was the Shura Council that gave approval if we wanted to raise the chairman, the A, B, or C. But since the congress in Bali, most of the Syuro Council's authority has been removed within the AD/ART. So, we don't see the role of the syuro council anymore," said Lukman Edy at the PBNU Office, Central Jakarta, Wednesday, July 31. Not only the central level management, since the congress in Bali 5 years ago, Cak Imin also eliminated decision making to overhaul the party structure at the regional leadership council (DPW) level to the branch leadership council (DPC).

"Not only determining strategic party policy policies, but it can even dismiss DPW, it can dismiss DPC without deliberation, without any regional deliberation or branch deliberation. It can even negate the results of branch deliberations and the results of regional deliberation. So, the authority is centralized to the general chairman," said Lukman.