H. Dedi Wahidi and the Indramayu NU PC: The Momentum of 2025 Santri Day: From Islamic Boarding Schools to BPS Statistical Literacy
By: Adlan Daie
Political and socio-religious analyst
The momentum of National Santri Day (HSN) 2025 is the “kick-off” point for the Indramayu NU PC, under the leadership of the Chairman of the Syuriah, KH. Ahmad Baedowi, and the Head of the Tanfidziyah, KH. Mustopa, to mark NU’s entry into a new space of awareness: a space of statistical literacy for NU members.
H. Dedi Wahidi, a member of the National Awakening Party (PKB) faction of Commission X of the Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR RI), along with one of his partners, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), inaugurated this new space of awareness during a socialization event to increase statistical literacy on the “Economic Census” at the Swiss Bellinn Hotel, Indramayu (Wednesday, October 8, 2025).
This is the accessibility of a new space of awareness that H. Dedi Wahidi brought to the NU Indramayu social ecosystem. On the one hand, in Prof. Mariam Budiardo’s political theory, he, as a political representative (DPR RI), carries out the function of political articulation and aggregation within the relationship of political representation—not about pragmatic “political play.”
On the other hand, in the theory of cultural transformation (by the late Prof. Umar Kayam), this is not simply pulling NU from the “fringes” to the “center,” but inviting NU into a new space of “conversation” about socioeconomic problems and poverty from the perspective of statistical literacy, one day as fluent as reading the “yellow books” in the NU pesantren tradition.
This means that the above event is not simply involving members of the Indramayu PCNU (National Leadership Council) within the context of program “socialization,” which, frankly, has been unfamiliar with statistical literacy within the NU work ecosystem, born from the “DNA” of Islamic boarding schools.
This new awareness space aims to attract the involvement of the younger generation of NU through the Indramayu PCNU selection process, of course, with BPS qualification standards to become part of the professional work of economic, agricultural, and other censuses. This is likely the first PCNU in Indonesia.
This new awareness space is crucial for understanding the somewhat “unusual” demographic map of Indramayu Regency. Its leaders simply “ngedabrus” (removing all details) without “clearing up.” On the other hand, Indramayu is the richest regency in “Ciayumajakuning” (Ciayumajakuning), and even the seventh-richest in West Java, with a GDP of 54 million per capita per year (BPS data – June 18, 2025).
GRDP stands for “Gross Regional Domestic Product,” meaning the total value of all final goods and services produced within a year. Indramayu, with a GRDP of 54 million per capita per year, is once again the seventh richest in West Java.
Ironically, the poverty rate in Indramayu, according to BPS data for March 2025, is the highest, or poorest, in West Java, at 11.93%, or 236,000 people. This is because these 236,000 people are considered poor because their maximum income (according to BPS standards) is just under 20,000 rupiah per day per person.
It is likely that the majority of those poor (236,000 people) are Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) members of Indramayu Regency. According to the 2020 “Indekstart” survey, NU members in Indramayu comprise 71% of the total Muslim population. Further survey updates are needed to measure the coverage of more up-to-date data.
This is where NU’s urgency lies in entering this new awareness space. If this collaboration is implemented within the 2026 BPS “Economic Census” calendar, where PCNU Indramayu, for example, could contribute just 50% of the 1,000 BPS census workers, then:
First, NU Indramayu will have a “fresh” young cadre of cadres, educated and trained in BPS professional work standards. This is the accessibility of the new awareness space that H. Dedi Wahidi has brought to the NU Indramayu social ecosystem.
From this “kick-off” point, socio-religious survey activities can be developed to articulate social issues in the context of strengthening the spirit of Santri Day, namely the “tawashut” spirit of NU doctrine in relation to the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI).
Second, the strength of statistical literacy will guide NU to more deeply understand the consumption and voting behavior of NU members at the grassroots level in a measurable and precise manner, based on standard census and survey principles in an accountable manner. This is a prerequisite for fostering democratic maturity.
Without a strong social ecosystem to support democratic maturity, NU members will almost always be mere “objects” crushed by political image manipulation that only produces “soap opera” leaders who are “ngedabrus” (sophisticated) and below the standard of leadership qualifications.
Without democratic maturity as a prerequisite for social construction, NU members will lack “immunity,” easily framed by “hoax” manipulation and social media lies, and easily become “victims” of transnational ideologies that have the potential to foster destructive radical actions in the name of religion.
That is the responsibility of NU, as the absolute majority Islamic organization in Indramayu, to connect the intensity of the relationship between structural NU (the management) and cultural NU (the NU congregation) in ideological cohesion based on a deep understanding of the sociological behavior of NU members at the grassroots level.
It is within this perspective and spectrum that the spirit of National Santri Day 2025 for the Indramayu NU PC is relevant, not merely in the form of ideological narratives with the slogan “NKRI Harga Mati” (Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, Non-negotiable).
Furthermore, given the challenges of the times, it is crucial to broaden the spectrum of national service to include advocacy work for marginalized social groups, which in fact constitute the majority of NU members.
“Happy National Santri Day (HSN) 2025. Wassalam”
Indramayu, October 11, 2025
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