TUG OF WAR IN PBNU’S INTERNAL CONFLICT, ROIS ‘AM VERSUS THE GENERAL CHAIRMAN: WHERE WILL IT END?
By: H. Adlan Daie
Political and Socio-Religious Analyst
Reading the escalation of the PBNU’s internal conflict, ROIS ‘AM versus the PBNU General Chairman, is clearly not simple and complicated. For NU “outsiders,” even for NU “insiders,” it is not sufficient to simply read the written “press conferences” between the two parties.
Because of this complexity, Mitsuo Nakamura, the first foreign observer to “officially” attend the 26th NU Congress in 1979 as an “observer,” found it difficult to predict the political rhythm and the ultimate outcome of NU as an Islamic organization.
Did the “boiling point” of the internal conflict within the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which bears the loosely circled “mining” logo, stem from the issue of a “mining” business concession, as Benny Bengke wrote in “Suara Merdeka” (November 22, 2025), then escalate into a “tug of war,” a power struggle between the Rois Am and the PBNU General Chairperson, or a strategic orchestration leading up to the NU Congress next year (late 2026)?
Quoting Mitsuo Nakamura, reading the dynamics of NU differs from that of “modernist” Islamic organizations. It’s easier to read from “standard operating procedures” and organizational procedures in “black and white,” simpler to observe, and rarely presents surprises.
This differs from reading NU; it’s more complex, including in the context of the escalation of the PBNU internal conflict mentioned above. It’s not sufficient to simply read it from the perspective of its organic structure and the official rationale for decisions made at the PBNU Syuriah daily meetings.
Another difference is that other Islamic organizations are generally formed organically first and then develop “good deeds” in a structured manner. NU is the opposite. The NU social ecosystem was formed through the tradition of Islamic boarding school networks, then structured into organizational formalism.
In other words, NU’s cultural strength precedes its structural strength. Therefore, once again, reading NU is more complex and cannot be approached simply through the organization’s structural mechanisms. The cultural strength of Islamic boarding schools is an inseparable variable in reading NU.
That is the complexity of constructing an analysis and the potential political turbulence surrounding the escalating “tug-of-war” conflict between the Rois Am and the General Chairperson of the PBNU, although this is not the first in the history of the dynamics of internal conflict within PBNU as a “jam’iyah” (organization).
Forty-one years ago, a similar incident occurred when a number of “senior kiai” (NU Syuriah) urged KH. Idham Kholid to resign as Chairman of PBNU ahead of the 27th NU Congress in 1984 in Situbondo, East Java. The ending was elegant and dignified for NU as a “jam’iyah.”
Now, before us, NU members, is the peak of the escalation of the internal conflict within the PBNU, with the Rois Am versus the General Chairman having been “beaten” through the daily PBNU Syuriyah meeting, demanding that Gus Yahya resign from his position as PBNU General Chairman.
The deadline was “strict” and no joke, with only three days given for Gus Yahya to “resign,” or in the words of Pa Harto (1998), “declare his resignation” from the PBNU General Chairmanship.
On the other hand, Gus Yahya and his loyal faction within the PBNU and several PWNU members have not budged on the demands to resign, citing the organization’s legitimacy, having been elected by NU’s highest deliberative forum, the NU Congress in Lampung in 2021, with a five-year mandate.
The public, especially Nahdliyin members, certainly hopes that the escalation of the internal conflict within the Nahdlatul Ulama Executive Board (PBNU) can be resolved in a dignified manner for both parties and for the dignity of the NU community, thus preventing “dualism” within the PBNU leadership in a tug-of-war that escalates the conflict.
If this “dualism” occurs, it would be a truly sad moment in NU’s history as a community, a religious organization with hundreds of millions of followers. It will suffer a credibility deficit in the eyes of its followers and potentially weaken as a “subculture” supporting elements of nationalism.
The author believes that the escalation of the internal conflict within the PBNU will end with a “surprise,” citing Prof. Burhanudin Muhtadi’s column titled “NU’s Exception” in Tempo magazine. He wrote:
“NU is a drama itself. NU without drama and dynamics is not the NU we know. That is why there is always an “element of surprise,” both small and large, that has colored NU’s long journey,” he wrote.
In other words, in the author’s “joke” language, NU is often adept at complicating simple problems, but is always capable of devising simple solutions to complex ones.
Hopefully, this second point can end the escalation of the internal conflict within the PBNU mentioned above.**
Indramayu, November 23, 2025
Wassalam.
——–
