*GUS MUHAIMIN AND THE CRUCIAL MIDDLE POINT OF THE 35TH NU CONGRESS*
By: Adlan Daie
Political Analyst, Secretary General of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), Indramayu Regency.
Indramayu, July 5, 2026
This short article is unpretentious and is intended to delve deeper into the perspective of Yusuf Mars, Founder & Host of “Padasuka TV,” in his article entitled “Why Does NU Need Gus Muhaimin to Lead the PBNU?” – published by “tribunnwes” (May 28, 2026).
This article focuses more on Gus Muhaimin’s position as the crucial “midpoint” between the rivalry between two factions: the Gus Yahya faction and the Gus Ipul faction, which is behind the nomination of Prof. Nazarudin Umar, Minister of Religious Affairs, as a candidate for PBNU Chairman.
This means that, like it or not, Gus Muhaimin is a crucial factor for both factions. Whichever faction Gus Muhaimin forms a tactical alliance with will likely win the leadership contest for PBNU Chairmanship at the 35th NU Congress.
Gus Yahya has lost many factors that could lead to his re-election as PBNU Chairman, as he did at the 34th NU Congress in Lampung five years ago.
First, Gus Yahya lost the “factor” of Gus Yaqut, his younger brother, whom Jokowi (then President) appointed as Minister of Religious Affairs. He effectively controlled the “PWNU and PCNU” vote machine, comprising no fewer than 160 votes from civil servants within the Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs, through his political power connections.
Now, Gus Yahya no longer possesses this “luxury” of electoral power in the context of the 35th NU Congress. Gus Yaqut has retired and “lost power.” This is what is referred to in modern political discourse as a shift in “crucial factors.”
Second, Gus Ipul and Nusron Wahid were crucial factors in Gus Yahya’s successful election as Chairman of the PBNU at the 34th NU Congress in Lampung in 2021. They are skilled at consolidating and orchestrating politics at the NU Congress.
Therefore, without these two factors, Gus Yahya would have lost his “system operator” in the dynamic dynamics of PBNU leadership succession at the 35th NU Congress. Moreover, both parties have now adopted an “oppositional” stance towards Gus Yahya in the context of the 35th NU Congress.
On the other hand, the opposing faction, Gus Ipul’s faction, which is promoting Prof. Nazarudin Umar, is not sufficiently dominant, relying solely on “electoral subsidies” from the power relations of civil servants within the Ministry of Religious Affairs he leads, including approximately 160 PWNU and PCNU members from the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Gus Ipul’s role is indeed crucial for Nazarudin Umar’s faction. He is the chairman of the Congress “committee” and can act as a “system operator.” He is also a politician with extensive experience in the NU political ecosystem, but lacks the political infrastructure to provide systemic structural leverage.
In the context of the competition between the two factions, Gus Muhaimin’s role is crucial, not merely to be considered, but to be a determining factor in who will ultimately win the leadership contest for PBNU Chairman at the 35th NU Congress.
Although Gus Muhaimin is not a member of the PBNU’s structural elite, the PKB, the party he leads, is the only party in Indonesia with a strong social ecosystem relationship with NU in the regions. PKB and NU are like living under the same roof—just in different rooms.
In this context, Gus Muhaimin’s influence plays a significant role in the dynamics of the 35th NU Congress. Only “observers” who don’t understand NU and PKB would separate NU and PKB, a political impossibility.
The problem is certainly not simple, as to where Gus Muhaimin will lead in establishing a tactical alliance between the two factions mentioned above. This is because Gus Muhaimin “understands” the tactics of both Gus Yahya and Gus Ipul and the complex political calculations they employ.
Gus Muhaimin’s maturity in national political competition has been tested. Even a renowned national thinker, the former Chairman of Muhammadiyah, the late Prof. Syafie Ma’arif, called Gus Muhaimin “the real politician,” a true NU politician.
This means he is a tactical politician and adept at navigating the complexities of inter-party relations in the tug-of-war of national political interests.
Political history throughout the reform era has tested Gus Muhaimin in all the dynamics of changing political regimes, including the internal dynamics within NU.
This is where Gus Muhaimin’s position at the crucial “midpoint” between two factions, namely the Gus Yahya faction and the Gus Ipul faction, becomes interesting at the 35th NU Congress.
Will Gus Muhaimin actually form a third axis by pulling one of the two factions together, with the possibility of him running alone due to situational needs, as assumed in Yusuf Mars’s article above?
Let’s wait and see how NU dynamics unfold until the culmination of the 35th NU Congress, with its potential surprises, a realm of probabilities and possibilities whose ending and outcome are often difficult to predict.**
Regards.
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