PBNU Chairman Gus Yahya: We Reject Political Identity, Whether It's Ethnic Or Religion

General Chairperson of the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board KH Yahya Cholil Staquf/ANTARA

JAKARTA - General Chairperson (Ketum) of the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board (PBNU) KH Yahya Cholil Staquf (Gus Yahya) emphasized that NU firmly rejects all forms of identity politics and prohibits NU from being afiqah or identity group. "We reject any identity politics, whether it be ethnic identity or religious identity. There should be no identity politics. We reject that," said Gus Yahya at a press conference for the Religion of Twenty (R20) or the G20 Religion Forum in Jakarta, Antara, Wednesday, September 7. The approach regardless of identity politics, he continued, is also the way NU solves the problem. "This is the position of NU that we uphold going forward. We don't want to make things worse. We want to find a solution," he said. He added that the affirmation or identity group is a case that is forbidden in the Qur'an. On the same occasion, he also said that he had repeatedly reminded other Muslims not to create hostility with any group, including adherents of the Wahabi sect or groups that were considered radicals. "Just like Jews, I'm relaxed, I can engagement, how come fellow Muslims can't," he added. The most important thing, he said, was that they were willing to live side by side and could accept the country where they lived with community groups or other religious communities. He also considered the determination of radicalism as an identity and facing radical groups as enemies in the end only giving birth to new problems, while the initial problem has not yet been found a solution. "If we see that there is a problem and want to find a way out of trouble, yes, we must talk to the parties involved with the problem to find a way out," he said. Therefore, he reminded that a hostile approach should be abandoned by all parties.