The Founder Of NU Disappeared From The History Dictionary Due To The Ministry Of Education And Culture's Negligence, Nadiem Makarim: This Happened Before I Became Minister

Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) Nadiem Makarim (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - Minister of Education and Culture (Mendikbud) Nadiem Makarim opens his voice over the polemic of missing the profile of the founder of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Kiai Haji Hasyim Asy'ari from the Indonesian History Dictionary Volume I.

Nadiem admitted that this dictionary was compiled in 2017, before he took office. After finding out that there was a NU figure who was missing in the preparation of the historical dictionary due to negligence of the Ministry of Education and Culture's ranks, Nadiem immediately ordered his men to make corrections.

"As soon as I heard about this issue, even though it happened before I became a minister, I immediately took concrete steps, assigning the Director General of Culture to immediately resolve the problem and make corrections," Nadiem said in a video upload to his Instagram account, nadiemmakarim, Wednesday, April 21.

Nadiem admitted that he also immediately ordered the Ministry of Education and Culture team to continue compiling the dictionary which had stalled. With a note, it is continued by being more technically careful and accommodating input from various stakeholders, including NU.

Nadiem emphasized that he continues to be committed to respecting historical values and the struggles of national figures, including KH Hasyim Asy'ari and his successors.

"To the people of Indonesia, I want to ensure that there is no intention of completely eliminating historical traces," said Nadiem.

"KH Hasyim Asyari is a kiai teacher and role model who has made a long history in the development of education and culture in Indonesia," he continued.

Previously reported, the absence of the name of the founder of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Kiai Haji Hasyim Asy'ari, was once protested by the Chairman of the Ma'arif PBNU Education Institute (LP), Arifin Junaidi. Not only that, he also asked the government to take action against the perpetrators who deliberately caused this polemic.

"LP Ma'arif NU PBNU strongly protested against the abolition and asked to include KHM. Hasyim Asy'ari in the Indonesian History Dictionary. LP Ma'arif NU also asked the government to take tough action against the perpetrators of the abolition," said Arifin in his written statement.

Later, after being protested by many parties, the Ministry of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud) apologized for his negligence.

This apology was conveyed by the Director General (Dirjen) of Culture of the Ministry of Education and Culture Hilmar Farid through an online press conference. He admitted that there was negligence related to the loss of the profile of Kiai Haji Hasyim Asy'ari from the dictionary.

The Ministry of Education and Culture claims that the dictionary that is widely circulating in the community in the form of digital copies is actually still being worked on and has not been further edited.

"The conclusion is, yes, this is really an omission, negligence. The manuscript which is actually not ready (published, red) is then published on the website," said Hilmar.

He explained, the Indonesian History Dictionary Volume I was done in 2017. However, until the end of the fiscal year, work has not been completed.

Furthermore, because they had to make a report, the dictionary was then laid out and printed and digital versions were made. For the printed version, Hilmar admitted that there were only a few dozen copies for editing purposes.

Next, in 2019, the Director of History held by Triana Wulandari was asked to provide material to be uploaded on the Rumah Belajar website. At that time, the Indonesian History Dictionary was uploaded.

"I have checked up to the staff working in the field, I really put it in chronological order and the conclusion is that this is really negligent," he said.