Jombang, NU Online
The newly elected chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama, KH Said Aqil Siradj, has promised to focus on social issues during his leadership over the next five years.
<>
“I would like to focus NU’s works on education, health and the people’s economy,” he said as quoted by Antara. He was speaking after being elected as NU chairman for the period of 2015-2020 during the organization’s 33rd national congress in Jombang, East Java, early on Thursday.

Said further explained that he would strive to protect and safeguard NU’s guiding principle, “ahl sunnah wa a-jama’ah” (aswaja for short), which means “to live by the Prophet’s example”, and implant it into the minds of Indonesia’s younger generation because challenges in the future would be faced by that group.

“Our younger generation will face radical ideologies in the future. That is our challenge. We will safeguard aswaja as it can create a moderate and tolerant Islam, which can benefit not only NU followers but also Muslims around the world,” he said.

The new NU chairman further said there would be no political agenda during his leadership, which would be spent helping NU achieve its purposes and aims.

“I hope for blessings from you, and from all Indonesian people, so we can carry out the mandate of the NU national congress and achieve what we have dreamed about,” he went on to say.

Meanwhile, supreme leader-elect, KH Ma’ruf Amin, promised that he would ensure that management reflected the wishes of the national congress’ participants.

“We will strive to ensure that no NU organization, including central or regional level branches, is run poorly. To achieve this, we will ensure that the planned actions by the congress’ commission are implemented,” he said. (masdar)