Nahdlatul Ulama and the state : examining Nahdlatul Ulama's political flexibility in post-reformasi Indonesia

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the main factors that drove Nahdlatul Ulama's (NU) political flexibility in Indonesia's political history. It also demonstrates how Nahdlatul Ulama maintains its political flexibility during post-reformasi Indonesia. The reformasi (reform cra) was considered to have cleared the path for Islamic groups, including NU, to play distinctive political and electoral roles in keeping their interests in power. During this time, NU became a potent Islamic political force in relation to the state. It had a flexible political action that could either be accommodative or tend to support or oppose the regime, particularly based on its elite networks. Incorporating evidence from document reviews, NU's internal publications and autobiographies, personal correspondence, and interviews, this study demonstrates that the main factor driving NU's political flexibility post-reformasi is the network of its religious clite. This network can be divided into two categories: a knowledge network that spans years and a kinship network that represents the firm ties between the elite, society, and the government. By utilizing its network, NU has succeeded in moving flexibly and responding to the political situation in various periods of regimes in Indonesia. Second, this flexibility is present in NU's attitude, which has never been the same in dealing with the post-reformasi regime. At the same time, this flexibility is also shown by the distribution of NU elites among various political strains to, on the one hand, maintain and balance Indonesia's political stability, and on the other hand, also try to protect their organizational interests. It argues that during various national political opportunities, NU's familial connection became stronger in post-reformasi Indonesia. In particular, when it comes to issues at the local level, the scholarly network has greater influence over NU's political attitudes.