Surabaya – Prominent Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) cleric and the caretaker of the Langitan pesantren (traditional Islamic boarding school) in Tuban, East Java, KH Abdullah Faqih has been chosen to lead a group opposing the National Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas).
The senior ulama (Islamic scholar) has been appointed to be the advisor to the Friendship Forum to Safeguard Pancasila and the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia Against the Threat of Neo-Communism (Forum Silaturrahmi Mengawal NKRI dan Pancasila dari Ancaman Neo-Komunisme) that held a consolidation meeting in the East Java provincial capital of Surabaya on Saturday, which was attended by delegations from Sumatra, Java and West Nusa Tenggara.
Other prominent figures that were in attendance included KH Ir. Solahuddin Wahid (Gus Solah, the caretaker of Tebuireng pesantren in Jombang), Prof. Dr. Aminuddin Kasdi (East Java Indonesian Historians Society, MSI), Prof. Dr. Edi Sri Swasono (economist), Taufik Ismail (cultural observer), retired TNI Major General Sutoyo NK (the former director general of social and political affairs at the Department of Domestic Affairs) and KH Abdussshomad Bukhori (chairperson of the East Java Indonesian Ulemas Council, MUI).
“The PKI [Indonesian Communist Party] has indeed been destroyed, but communist ideas are resurfacing through various means and because of this vigilance is needed”, said Faqih who is also one of the founders of the Ulama National Awakening Party (PKNU).
Faqih believes that one of the ways in which ex-PKI or PKI cadres are rising up again is through politics, education and the law. “The political means being undertaken includes among other things efforts to revoke the Tap MPRS XXV/19661, but it failed”, he said.
“Now, they are trying to take advantage of the situation and conflicts the Indonesian nation is experiencing, most recently by building a new political movement. This conflicts with [the state ideology of] Pancasila and Islam, because of this it must be resisted”, he asserted.
Speaking separately with Antara News during a break in the event, Gus Solah explained that it would be best to invite Papernas to address the legal factors because Indonesia is a constitutional state. “But, the legal efforts shouldn’t be juridical in character, rather a submission to the Constitutional Court in the form of an appeal or judicial review”, explained the younger brother of former President Abdurrahman Wahid2.
Speaking in a similar vein, the deputy chairperson of the goodwill committee, Arukat Djaswadi said that they are urging the government to act immediately against Papernas because it has violated the MPRS Decree, Law Number 27/19993 on State Security, and many other laws.
“Because of this, it is time for the government to act firmly, because they are most clearly an embryo of a communist [party], because they use the principle of populist democracy, whereas if they [want to] live in Indonesia they must use Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution”, he said.
The head of the Center for Indonesian Community Studies (CICS) explained that Papernas cannot be dealt with of by juridical means because Papernas uses the ideology of logic, however Papernas has clearly violated the “rules of the game” in Indonesia and the government must be firm.
Similar comments were made by Kasdi. “The aroma of the PKI inside Papernas is strong, including the view that the 1945 [nationalist] revolution is unfinished, the jargon of Tripanji4 and the focus on workers, farmers and the urban poor”, he said.
Notes:
1. Tap MPRS XXV/1966: MPRS Decree Number XXV/1966 on the Dissolution of the Indonesian Communist Party and Prohibitions on Marxist, Leninist and Communist Teachings
2. Following the attack by the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) on Papernas in Jakarta on March 29 Wahid publicly condemned the incident saying that it was unconstitutional and if the government stays quiet on the issue it will endanger the life of the nation. He also called on police to act firmly against the FPI. Wahid was scheduled to speak at a Papernas declaration that had to be postponed because of the attack.
3. Law No. 27/1999 is a revision to the Criminal Code that codifies the MPRS Decree.
4. Tripanji – Papernas’ Three Banners of National Unity: Abolishing the foreign debt, nationalising the mining industry and building the national industry for the welfare of the people.
[Translated by James Balowski.]
