Eurasia Review
19 May 2016
- RSIS
- Media Mentions
- Islam Nusantara: NU’s Bid to Promote “Moderate Indonesian Islam” – Analysis
Islam Nusantara: NU’s Bid to Promote “Moderate Indonesian Islam” – Analysis
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation, has sponsored an international conference as part of its strategy to promote “Islam Nusantara” worldwide. However, the concept remains deeply contested, even within the NU itself.
Indonesia’s largest Muslim organisation Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) has launched a drive to promote what it calls “Islam Nusantara” – or Islam from Indonesia – with an international conference in Jakarta attended by delegates from over 40 countries, including Islamic scholars (ulama) from the Middle East, Europe and the United States. A number of prominent ulama and intellectuals spoke during the conference on 9-10 May 2016, including Ahmad Muhammad Ahmad El-Tayeb, the Grand Mufti of the al-Azhar Mosque in Egypt, Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and founder of the Grameen Bank, and Hamza Yusuf, co-founder of Zaytuna College, the first Muslim liberal arts college in the United States.
The conference also received support from Indonesian President Joko Widodo (Jokowi). This can be seen from the fact that the meeting was opened by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, with speeches delivered by a number of high level officials from his administration, including Luhut Panjaitan, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs; Commissioner General of Police Tito Karnavian, Head of the Indonesian National Counter Terrorism Agency (BNPT); and Sutiyoso, Head of the Indonesian National Intelligence Agency (BIN).
… Alexander R. Arifianto PhD is a Research Fellow with the Indonesia Programme, S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
RSIS / Online
Last updated on 19/05/2016
