NU calls on its followers not to abstain from voting

Jakarta, NU Online
With the general elections drawing closer, the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) called on Muslims nationwide to vote in the upcoming general elections.<>

Abdul Mun'im DZ, Deputy Secretary General of NU said the organization had called on its followers not to abstain from voting and asked clerics all over the country to help succeed the general election.

“NU does mind which party the Nahdliyin (NU followers) choose but it worries they will fail to support the country’s political transformation,” he told NU Online here on Monday.

With more than 90 million followers, the NU has long been considered a key constituent base for Islamic-based political parties, including the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the United Development Party (PPP). 

Nationalist parties, like the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party have also tried to garner support from NU members.

As its followers are affiliated to different political parties, the NU requested its clerics to maintain neutrality and call on all Muslims to participate, or focus on the technical aspects of the elections, such as how to fill out the ballot correctly. 

As reported by NU Online, General Chairman of NU KH Said Aqil Siradj (Kang Said) formerly called on all Nahdliyin not to be abstainers (golput).

Kang Said said that as good citizens, the Nahdliyin should use their right to vote for considering that it is very fundamental to democracy and even in some countries it is a compulsory.

Kang Said also called on all Nahdliyin to pay more attention to those willing to be their representatives in parliament and choose the would-be members of parliament in accordance with a well-formed conscience.

Editing by Sudarto Murtaufiq