NU disagrees with middle axis initiated by Muhammadiyah chairman

Jakarta, NU Online
General chairman of the Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama (PBNU) KH Hasyim Muzadi expressed his disagreement with the second edition of the middle axis idea initiated by chairman of Muhammadiyah Dien Syamsuddin.

Hasyim said the idea would not automatically and easily be met to be such a unifying force by Muslim organizations like NU and Muhammadiyah whose cadres in many political parties.<>

According to Hasyim the effort to unify Muslim votes through the polarization of Muslim organizations like NU and Muhammadiyah was vulnerable to break in and alienation. There would be a tendency to focus more on their own interest, he said.

"If we now want to unite let us start looking for figures that can be accepted by all with the theme that can also be accepted by all. Let Muslims give their vote directly without necessarily polarization of Muslim organizations," he told reporters here Thursday (18/12).

In the meantime, Hasyim said it would increasingly be difficult to unify dissenting views because the cadres of the Muslim organizations have their own agenda in accordance with their political posts.

"That it can be discussed by Muslim figures, it is ok," Hasyim said, adding that it would be, again and again, more difficult to create the polarization because there have been many legislative candidates
 from the two Indonesia's largest Muslim organizations.

Commenting on the ideal figures, Hasyim called on people to elect those whose sense of a mandate and similar vision to their ummah (people) as a whole regardless of their formality.

"Unfortunately, until now there have been no such figures capable of unifying the interest of the ummah as a whole because there have been no any trusted by people," Hasyim said. (mkf)