NU student organizations rediscussed

Jakarta, NU Online
Ahead of the NU 32nd Congress, the existence of student organizations which are directly under the stucture of the Central Board of Nahdlatul Ulama was took up in a pre-NU congress meeting in Jakarta on Tuesday (18/8).

There were two different views among participants in dealing with the student organizations; there were some expecting the establishment of new student organization and there were some others still expecting to maximize such already-established organizations as NU Student Organization (IPNU), Indonsian Muslim Student Movement (PMII) and NU Student Family (KMNU).<>

Those who agree to establish new NU student organizations said that the existence of the new organizations were very important to preserve and develop student networks with the ideology of Ahlussunnah wal Jamaah which has recently met challenges driven by the wahabi groups.

This group argued that the existence of IPNU and PMII could not represent NU for being considered to have increasingly been far from the NU teachings. While NU had not yet been fully 'welcomed' by university students for just addressing the segment of both junior and senior high school students.

While those who reject to establish new NU student organizations were of the opinion that the existence of PMII, IPNU and KMNU had already been adequate to represent the need of NU students.

The problem is likely in the perception of 'student' commonly associated with IPNU in which the organization is considerably appropriate with school students. Whereas the term is also able to be used to all levels of education like Indonesian Student Association (PPI) in overseas, consisting of doctorate students. (mkf)