Jakarta, NU Online
President-elect Ir H Joko Widodo (Jokowi) and vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla are scheduled to attend a seminar organized by the Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) at its headquarters, Jln. Kramat Raya 164, Jakarta, Thursday (28/8).<>

In the seminar entitled "The NU Contribution to New President", Jokowi will be the keynote speaker. The seminar will be divided into two sessions, from 10:00 am until 16:00 pm.

The scholarly forum will take up issues on how to deal with the new national leadership for the coming five years.

Organizing committee chief, KH Abdul Manan A Ghani said told NU Online that "the forum is important and constitutes the NU  commitment in founding the Republic of Indonesia."

"NU shall provide inputs to a new government, so that the next government will be in accordance with the purposeful vision and mission in establishing this country," he said.

According to Manan, some studies have predicted that Indonesia will likely be one of seven economic giants. All this, he said, could be materialized by the leaders having integrity and morality.

"They are the leaders who are able to reconcile society, religion, culture, and stand in the frontline against any corruption, collusion, and nepotism," the chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Mosque Management Board (LTMNU) said.

The seminar will also be attended by General Chairman of NU KH Said Aqil Siradj and General Chairman of Lawmaking Body ((Rais Aam) of NU KH A Mustofa Bisri.

In early August Jokowi launched a transition team, the first in Indonesian history, to prepare for his future administration. It will also help manage the transfer of power from outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to Jokowi.

The team, which is headed by former president director of PT Astra International and minister of trade Rini Mariani Soemarno, consists of a combination of experts and politicians tasked with devising programs to be implemented by Jokowi and Kalla during their five-year term in office.

Earlier, Kalla expressed his disagreement over the transition team’s plan to merge several ministries into one, adding that he also disapproved of the idea that ministers in the next administration must quit their positions in their political parties, a proposal made by Jokowi.

Kalla said it would take time to merge ministries and he and Jokowi only had a limited amount of time to realize their campaign promises.

“If any change is needed, they should be minor changes. If major changes take place then many things have to be restructured, such as who are going to be the directorate generals and where the new offices will be located and other things,” Kalla said in Jakarta recently.

Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq