Book title: Changes to the Heart of Tradition; The Nahdlatul Ulama I Observed
Writer : As'ad Said Ali
Introduction : KH Sahal Mahfudz
volume : 217 pages
Edition : 2008
Reviewer : M. Hendarto
Following its Indonesian edition that has successfully been discussed in many places and several times reprinted, this book has greatly attracted readers for especially showing the big influence of neo-liberal thoughts within NU. The thoughts have entered through funding agencies which are operated through NGOs within NU.<>
The publication of this book seems to produce frictions within NU itself that are really clear between the liberal and non-liberal circle. At this point as if the followers of NU have got to declare themselves as the followers of the liberal or otherwise. In addition, this book also calls for the reconsolidation of NU thought and the return to the middle (moderate) way.
It would of course result in upheavals or at least produce such sensations for the world community because this book, directly or indirectly, tries to uncover international neo-liberal movements that spread through the globalization wave.
Various international funding agencies in Indonesia such as The Ford Foundation, The Asia Foundation, Frederich Nauman Stiftung, Swiss Development Cooperation and so on are the ones spreading liberalism. While at the same time a wide range of international intelligence agencies have actively driven the funding agencies not only in providing fund but also in determining their agenda of thought and social movements.
So it is understandable if there have been some considering this book as a form of such operation contra intelligence. Perhaps, it is an unusual thing in which an intelligence officer writes openly a book while he is still in power, namely as a deputy chief at the National Intelligence Agency (BIN).
Whereas usually an intelligent will write after he retires so that whatever he wishes to deliver would not disturb what he has been playing. Is it not a carelessness littered with risks either for its author or the institutions he writes? Nevertheless this book is implicitly written to protect NU as the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia and perhaps the world. In other words this book is aimed at protecting Indonesia and the world from terrorism and global capitalism.
It offers various points interesting to study and explore ranging from the theme presented to the position of its author. On the one hand, he admits as a follower of NU and is from the deepest circle of pesantren (Islamic boarding school) and even from the kiai’s core family so that it is understandable if the man could easily explore the tradition of NU and pesantren that are so unique and complicated. A step that cannot be easily be done even by a scholar but all this can meticulously and precisely be done by As’ad himself. Because he is from the community he unnecessarily starts from basic. He can recognize and master academic tradition in his environment.
So far As’ad has been recognized as an intelligence officer who is expert especially on political affairs in the Middle East because he has for tens of years lived in the region. For that reason, his capability in tracing terrorism networks in the region is countable. That is why it is interesting to note that he did not write about the relationship between Islamic movements in Indonesia and Islamic networks in Middle East. Instead, he traced the West roots within the networks of NU thought. It is such an unusual research but through accurate and valid evidence people are sure that it portrays a reality rather than fiction or imagination.
The zigzag steps performed by As’ad seem to be opposed to the ‘ethic code’ of an intelligence officer. At this point, As’ad may no longer stand on normative rules and tends to follow his imagination so that his steps are no longer monotonous normative but try to do any innovation. During the New Order era especially since Mutoyib was appointed as a chairman of BIN, the role of BIN tended to be ignored. Since then Indonesia has never had respected intelligence men as before. In the meantime, its steps were monotonous so that it was considered to have been left and even often been cheated.
The coming of As’ad is little bit different. His steps are not monotonous but full of imagination so that he can see any game area. As a result he can easily play many roles and still rely on democracy or human rights having been promoted since the reform era. This is a difficult problem for an intelligence officer as information is widely open and at the same time most people demand openness without limit so that the state’s secretcy is to be vanished. In this situation, though their role is really needed, intelligent people will certainly meet such difficulties in developing their game except those whose imagination, namely high political imagination so that they will be capable of opening new perspectives in carrying out their tasks.
Since the beginning the BIN has been dominated by military circle ranging from its pioneer Col. Zulkifli Lubis, Sutopo Juwono, Yoga Sugama until now so that the coming of As’ad as an intelligence officer from civil circle is a difference. He has for years served as deputy chief though there has several times been leadership rotation for number-one position in the agency, As’ad has remained in his position. He has never been promoted because of his status as a civil intelligence. Though the man has outstanding achievements and is respected by international intelligence agencies, the chief position from civil circles has never been mandated to him.
If in 1950s in the parliamentary democracy era such civil figures as Amir Syarifuddin and Sultan Hamengkubuwono could become the minister of defense so that when KH Abdurrahman Wahid came to power he could appoint civil figures like Juwono Sudarsono and Mahfud MD as ministers of defense. In addition, Gus Dur also had the courage to appoint a military commander not from ground forces but from naval forces namely Adm. Widodo. The tradition of appointing Indonesian military commander from civil circle and bravely pioneered by Gus Dur has also followed by President Megawati and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. At this point, it seems clear that appointing a chief in the BIN from civil intelligent circle is extremely in need of such political courage to smash the tradition in the Indonesian intelligence whose no precedence to create a new civil intelligence tradition as that in other advanced countries.
NU is a moderate and tolerant religious social organization. It is not only tolerant to religions but also tolerant to any existing different opinion. This tolerance attitude has widely been promoted in the pesantren educational systems that greatly appreciate any dissenting opinion. Commonly Muslim organizations have a school of though (madzhab). While NU is the only organization that adopts and follows one of the four madzhab. Whereas each madzhab has its own (religious) views, further more in their followers the sharp difference may be really clear. Yet all this can easily be accommodated by NU. Even NU through its Jam’iyyah Ahlit Thariqah al Mu’tabaroh an Nahdliyyah can, again, accommodate its hundreds of tarekat (sufi orders) different from each other and even misleading one another. At this point, NU has been capable of reconciling and accommodating any existing dissenting opinion rather than stifling the opinion.
Through its various spectrum and lines of thought, what occurs in the body of NU is the dynamics of thought as each group within it tries to do such integration or sort thoughts. Most of the time many people have seen the scene as a tension or friction whereas it is a dynamics in giving reasons (hujjah) and clarifications (bayyinah). Here is the statement made by KH Idham Cholid as researchers saw the NU dynamics as a dispute. The NU dynamics of thought has called attention to researchers so that there have been many doing researches about NU.
Though NU has widely been researched but the researches are commonly carried out by scientists. That is why it is the first time NU is researched by As’ad Ali, an intelligent from the National Intelligence Agency (BIN). What is interesting to note here is that what he researches is not the thought movements within NU because NU has its own intellectual tradition that is not easy to understand by other parties. For that reason, there have been no scholars doing a research in dealing with the thought movements because they could not explore them. Not only do they meet difficulties especially classical Arabic books or trace unpopular references but they also meet difficulties in understanding various covering traditions and various typical terms and methods.
This book consists of seven chapters, elaborating the fundamental problems particularly in regard to the scientific (intellectual) tradition of NU and pesantren. In addition to talking more about the reform of thought within NU, this book also brilliantly maps out the movements of thought within NU. The most interesting from this book is one of its chapters elaborating the development of neoliberalism in the world including its influence in Indonesia’s NGOs as well as the NGOs within NU so that NU is the agent of neoliberal as explained in the book. Even various international funding agencies granting funds to NGOs within NU such as The Asia Foundation, The Ford Foundation, AIDAB (Australia), Cordaid (The Netherlands) and many other NU institutions that receive their funds. (page 141-149).
In addition, there are many other international funding agencies such as USAID, Soros Foundation, Frederich Nauman Stiftung, AUSAID, Oxfam, Japan Foundation, and so on. We can trace the neoliberal funding agencies in the NU institutions through any neoliberal agenda they seed. Actually the funding agencies also grant funds to other organizations like Muhammadiyah. While the top leader of NU KH Sahal Mahfudz (Rais Aam) gives an introduction in this book as if he would give such a legitimacy and moral strength for its public circulation. This book is important to read especially for NU circle and pesantren because of its accuracy.
Writer : As'ad Said Ali
Introduction : KH Sahal Mahfudz
volume : 217 pages
Edition : 2008
Reviewer : M. Hendarto
Following its Indonesian edition that has successfully been discussed in many places and several times reprinted, this book has greatly attracted readers for especially showing the big influence of neo-liberal thoughts within NU. The thoughts have entered through funding agencies which are operated through NGOs within NU.<>
The publication of this book seems to produce frictions within NU itself that are really clear between the liberal and non-liberal circle. At this point as if the followers of NU have got to declare themselves as the followers of the liberal or otherwise. In addition, this book also calls for the reconsolidation of NU thought and the return to the middle (moderate) way.
It would of course result in upheavals or at least produce such sensations for the world community because this book, directly or indirectly, tries to uncover international neo-liberal movements that spread through the globalization wave.
Various international funding agencies in Indonesia such as The Ford Foundation, The Asia Foundation, Frederich Nauman Stiftung, Swiss Development Cooperation and so on are the ones spreading liberalism. While at the same time a wide range of international intelligence agencies have actively driven the funding agencies not only in providing fund but also in determining their agenda of thought and social movements.
So it is understandable if there have been some considering this book as a form of such operation contra intelligence. Perhaps, it is an unusual thing in which an intelligence officer writes openly a book while he is still in power, namely as a deputy chief at the National Intelligence Agency (BIN).
Whereas usually an intelligent will write after he retires so that whatever he wishes to deliver would not disturb what he has been playing. Is it not a carelessness littered with risks either for its author or the institutions he writes? Nevertheless this book is implicitly written to protect NU as the largest Muslim organization in Indonesia and perhaps the world. In other words this book is aimed at protecting Indonesia and the world from terrorism and global capitalism.
It offers various points interesting to study and explore ranging from the theme presented to the position of its author. On the one hand, he admits as a follower of NU and is from the deepest circle of pesantren (Islamic boarding school) and even from the kiai’s core family so that it is understandable if the man could easily explore the tradition of NU and pesantren that are so unique and complicated. A step that cannot be easily be done even by a scholar but all this can meticulously and precisely be done by As’ad himself. Because he is from the community he unnecessarily starts from basic. He can recognize and master academic tradition in his environment.
So far As’ad has been recognized as an intelligence officer who is expert especially on political affairs in the Middle East because he has for tens of years lived in the region. For that reason, his capability in tracing terrorism networks in the region is countable. That is why it is interesting to note that he did not write about the relationship between Islamic movements in Indonesia and Islamic networks in Middle East. Instead, he traced the West roots within the networks of NU thought. It is such an unusual research but through accurate and valid evidence people are sure that it portrays a reality rather than fiction or imagination.
The zigzag steps performed by As’ad seem to be opposed to the ‘ethic code’ of an intelligence officer. At this point, As’ad may no longer stand on normative rules and tends to follow his imagination so that his steps are no longer monotonous normative but try to do any innovation. During the New Order era especially since Mutoyib was appointed as a chairman of BIN, the role of BIN tended to be ignored. Since then Indonesia has never had respected intelligence men as before. In the meantime, its steps were monotonous so that it was considered to have been left and even often been cheated.
The coming of As’ad is little bit different. His steps are not monotonous but full of imagination so that he can see any game area. As a result he can easily play many roles and still rely on democracy or human rights having been promoted since the reform era. This is a difficult problem for an intelligence officer as information is widely open and at the same time most people demand openness without limit so that the state’s secretcy is to be vanished. In this situation, though their role is really needed, intelligent people will certainly meet such difficulties in developing their game except those whose imagination, namely high political imagination so that they will be capable of opening new perspectives in carrying out their tasks.
Since the beginning the BIN has been dominated by military circle ranging from its pioneer Col. Zulkifli Lubis, Sutopo Juwono, Yoga Sugama until now so that the coming of As’ad as an intelligence officer from civil circle is a difference. He has for years served as deputy chief though there has several times been leadership rotation for number-one position in the agency, As’ad has remained in his position. He has never been promoted because of his status as a civil intelligence. Though the man has outstanding achievements and is respected by international intelligence agencies, the chief position from civil circles has never been mandated to him.
If in 1950s in the parliamentary democracy era such civil figures as Amir Syarifuddin and Sultan Hamengkubuwono could become the minister of defense so that when KH Abdurrahman Wahid came to power he could appoint civil figures like Juwono Sudarsono and Mahfud MD as ministers of defense. In addition, Gus Dur also had the courage to appoint a military commander not from ground forces but from naval forces namely Adm. Widodo. The tradition of appointing Indonesian military commander from civil circle and bravely pioneered by Gus Dur has also followed by President Megawati and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. At this point, it seems clear that appointing a chief in the BIN from civil intelligent circle is extremely in need of such political courage to smash the tradition in the Indonesian intelligence whose no precedence to create a new civil intelligence tradition as that in other advanced countries.
NU is a moderate and tolerant religious social organization. It is not only tolerant to religions but also tolerant to any existing different opinion. This tolerance attitude has widely been promoted in the pesantren educational systems that greatly appreciate any dissenting opinion. Commonly Muslim organizations have a school of though (madzhab). While NU is the only organization that adopts and follows one of the four madzhab. Whereas each madzhab has its own (religious) views, further more in their followers the sharp difference may be really clear. Yet all this can easily be accommodated by NU. Even NU through its Jam’iyyah Ahlit Thariqah al Mu’tabaroh an Nahdliyyah can, again, accommodate its hundreds of tarekat (sufi orders) different from each other and even misleading one another. At this point, NU has been capable of reconciling and accommodating any existing dissenting opinion rather than stifling the opinion.
Through its various spectrum and lines of thought, what occurs in the body of NU is the dynamics of thought as each group within it tries to do such integration or sort thoughts. Most of the time many people have seen the scene as a tension or friction whereas it is a dynamics in giving reasons (hujjah) and clarifications (bayyinah). Here is the statement made by KH Idham Cholid as researchers saw the NU dynamics as a dispute. The NU dynamics of thought has called attention to researchers so that there have been many doing researches about NU.
Though NU has widely been researched but the researches are commonly carried out by scientists. That is why it is the first time NU is researched by As’ad Ali, an intelligent from the National Intelligence Agency (BIN). What is interesting to note here is that what he researches is not the thought movements within NU because NU has its own intellectual tradition that is not easy to understand by other parties. For that reason, there have been no scholars doing a research in dealing with the thought movements because they could not explore them. Not only do they meet difficulties especially classical Arabic books or trace unpopular references but they also meet difficulties in understanding various covering traditions and various typical terms and methods.
This book consists of seven chapters, elaborating the fundamental problems particularly in regard to the scientific (intellectual) tradition of NU and pesantren. In addition to talking more about the reform of thought within NU, this book also brilliantly maps out the movements of thought within NU. The most interesting from this book is one of its chapters elaborating the development of neoliberalism in the world including its influence in Indonesia’s NGOs as well as the NGOs within NU so that NU is the agent of neoliberal as explained in the book. Even various international funding agencies granting funds to NGOs within NU such as The Asia Foundation, The Ford Foundation, AIDAB (Australia), Cordaid (The Netherlands) and many other NU institutions that receive their funds. (page 141-149).
In addition, there are many other international funding agencies such as USAID, Soros Foundation, Frederich Nauman Stiftung, AUSAID, Oxfam, Japan Foundation, and so on. We can trace the neoliberal funding agencies in the NU institutions through any neoliberal agenda they seed. Actually the funding agencies also grant funds to other organizations like Muhammadiyah. While the top leader of NU KH Sahal Mahfudz (Rais Aam) gives an introduction in this book as if he would give such a legitimacy and moral strength for its public circulation. This book is important to read especially for NU circle and pesantren because of its accuracy.
