East Java NU Leader Mulling Q08 Governor Run

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 JAKARTA 000162 SIPDIS FROM AMCONSUL SURABAYA 0006 SIPDIS SECSTATE FOR EAP/MTS E.O.12958: DECL: 01/18/2017 TAGS: PGOV KISL ID SUBJECT: East Java NU Leader Mulling Q08 Governor Run (U) Classified by Pol/Econ Officer David Williams, reasons 1.4 (b),(d). REF A: 06 Jakarta 13304, REF B: 06 Jakarta 13303, Ref C: 06 Jakarta 13358 ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. Ali Maschan Moesa, Chairman of the East Java Chapter of Nadhlatul Ulama (NU),recently shared his future political and national NU leadership plans. Moesa expressed his concern over the increasing conservatism and scriptural literalism of East Java NU clerics and its possible impact. He plans to keep East Java NU away from the split in the National Awakening Party (PKB) and does not see the political divide as an organizational trend. The formation of the National Clerics Awakening Party (PKNU) was sponsored by Vice President Yusuf Kalla as a means to undermine PKB support in East and Central Java, according to Moesa. He is shrewdly collecting political offers, possibly in a move to refuse them, enhancing his QspiritualQ reputation and drawing a sharp contrast with the highly political Hasyim Muzadi, NUQs current national leader, in an effort to replace Muzadi. END SUMMARY. Many Offers Make For a Tough Decision -------------- ¶2. (C) Ali Maschan Moesa, head of East Java Nadhlatul Ulama (NU),is mentioned by every major candidate in East JavaQs gubernatorial race as their choice for Vice Governor. During a large public gathering at a prominent NU pesatren in Jombang on December 12, current East Java Vice Governor Sunaryo declared Moesa, Qthe best candidate for Vice GovernorQ and asked him to join him on GolkarQs ticket. According to Moesa, the Democratic Party Q Struggle (PDI-P) also offered for him to run for Vice Governor and the PKB gave him a standing offer to run as their candidate for Governor. Several prominent ethnic Chinese and Javanese local businessmen, enamored with MoesaQs popularity, pluralistic views and clean reputation, have approached Moesa to run for governor, promising substantial campaign contributions in his support. ¶3. (C) While Moesa seems flattered and somewhat tempted by the offers, he regretted that entering politics would keep him from his real passion, to replace Hasyim Muzadi as the national leader of NU. Moesa feels strongly that Muzadi is politicizing NU, which in his mind is a huge mistake. His mission 
would be to transform NU to a modern, dynamic organization and break its negative perception as a backward outdated institution of a bygone era. His dilemma is that he has not identified a moderate intellectual successor for himself in East Java. He fears being replaced by a conservative cleric who would change the character of East Java NU and oppose his desire for organizational change. Moesa added, QMuzadi has been advising me to stay in East Java to guard NU from conservative elements and he has also offered his permission to me to run for East Java Governor. He will do anything to keep me out of Jakarta.Q East Java NU Growing More Conservative -------------- ¶4. (C) When discussing the growth of conservative factions within East Java NU (Ref. B),Moesa reluctantly admitted that some NU clerics (kiai) are becoming more conservative and QliteralisticQ in their interpretations of the Koran. Moesa stated that Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) and the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) are aggressively reaching out to NU kiai to influence their thinking against NUQs East Java leadership. Moesa accused HTI of deliberately misquoting him to several conservative East Java kiai as saying that all religions are the same, prompting kiai Faqih, a leading East Java NU cleric, to issue a public statement denouncing Moesa as an infidel. Moesa gave several other examples of misquotes attributed to him and other East Java NU leaders that were printed and distributed in NU mosques or published in the NU and national newspapers. He JAKARTA 00000162 002 OF 003 expressed frustration that increasing numbers of East Java NU clerics are susceptible to misinformation campaigns and would believe that NU leaders might say some of the ridiculous quotes attributed to them. He is also concerned that MuzadiQs cozy relationship with more radical Islamic groups misleads local clerics to invite HTI and FPI to speak at their schools. He also emphasized that the vast majority of clerics are not swayed by radical Islamic propaganda. Moesa Wants NU Away From PKB Split -------------- ¶5. (C) Moesa intends to keep East Java NU as far away as possible from the controversial split in the PKB (Ref. A) and stressed that NUQs direct involvement in politics would damage the credibility of the organization. He sees the split as a personal conflict between former Indonesian President Wahid (Gus Dur) and several prominent conservative kiais, lead by Kiai Faqih, not as any type of meaningful split within NU. For a long time these conservative kiais have been trying to prevent Gus Dur from being more influential within NU. They think that Gus Dur is secular, and Kiai Faqih called Gus Dur an infidel in the past for his pluralistic views. According to Moesa, Qthese clericsQ spiritual aura and appeal to the people are gone because they desire political power and money and most of his santris (students) know it.Q Moesa accused Kiai Faqih of receiving hundreds of millions of rupiah (hundreds of thousands of dollars) from presidential candidates Megawati and Wiranto to influence his followersQ voting during the 2004 campaign. Kalla Behind PKNU Formation -------------- ¶5. (C) Moesa speculated that the PKB split and the new PKNU is actually sponsored by Golkar party leader, Vice President Yusuf Kalla, as a part of his Qgrand strategic planQ for a 2009 presidential run. Golkar is suffering in East Java because local residents blame Coordinating Minister of PeopleQs Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, a Golkar stalwart and confidant of Kalla, for causing the mud volcano in Porong which has flooded thousands of local homes and businesses with hot mud (Ref. C). According to Moesa, Golkar's leadership knows that it must undermine the PKB in its stronghold areas of East and Central Java to be successful in a national election. As evidence of a conspiracy, Moesa described a meeting between Melinda Aksa, the daughter of Aksa Mahmud, the Deputy leader of the DPD (Melinda is also KallaQs cousin),and Choiral Anam, the leader of the PKB at the time, at the East Java PKB offices in Surabaya, where Anam was allegedly offered the position of QPKNU project officerQ and funds to start the rival NU party. Moesa derided Anam as a Qpolitical opportunist of the worst sortQ, but believes Anam will be successful with the PKNU convincing some NU clerics to eschew the QsecularQ PKB in favor of a more Qcleric basedQ political party. COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (C) MoesaQs hard work and reputation as a principled and effective leader of East Java NU has put him in a strong position to successfully enter East Java provincial politics. He is highly critical of MuzadiQs Qconstant politickingQ and assumes that by entering the QdirtyQ world of local politics, he will forfeit his clean reputation and any opportunity to lead NU nationally as the agent of change he feels the organization desperately needs. Moesa has not publicly denied interest in entering local politics or refused any of the offers coming his way and seems content at this point to allow his name to continue to be mentioned as a possible candidate. Should he refuse the worldly temptations of Indonesian politics in favor of moral high road of leading NU, his reputation as a true NU spiritual leader would be enhanced and he would draw a stark comparison to his politically involved rival Muzadi. JAKARTA 00000162 003 OF 003 PASCOE