Muktamar NU 2021: Nahdlatul Ulama towards Self-Reliance and World Peace
INDONESIA STUDIES PROGRAMME WEBINAR
About the Webinar
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest Muslim organisation in Indonesia, held its five-yearly organisational meeting (Muktamar) on 22-25 December 2021 in the province of Lampung. It is NU’s largest and most important event that greatly impacts the organisation’s future direction. The Muktamar is a critical milestone for NU as it enters its second century of its role in Indonesia. Based on Muktamar’s consensus, NU is expected to both focus on domestic and internal organisational issues as well as play international roles as the largest Muslim organisation in the country. Domestically, NU is expected to focus on increasing the self-reliance of nahdliyyin (its followers) and the nation of Indonesia in general. Internationally, NU is also expected to bridge and promote peace among nations. Armed with this expectation to fulfil all these upcoming roles, the new leadership of NU promised that they would strengthen the original purpose of the NU establishment, which was to become jam’iyyah as a mass organisation (Khittah 1926). This would mean that NU should be independent of any political practice, such as nominating the president and vice president in the upcoming 2024 presidential elections. As a collaboration between ISEAS and UIII (Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia), this joint webinar aims to discuss the future directions of NU, featuring the new Chairman of NU, K.H. Yahya Cholil Staquf, as the keynote speaker.
About the Keynote Speaker
Mr Kyai Haji Yahya Cholil Staquf is an Indonesian politician and Islamic cleric, currently serving as the General Chairman of the Executive Council of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) since December 2021. From 2015 to 2021, he took on the position of Katib Aam (General Secretary of the Supreme Council) in the Nahdlatul Ulama before being elected as the chairperson of NU. He was also a former member of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and served as a member of the Presidential Advisory Council (Wantimpres) 2014-2019.
About the Panel Speakers
Dr Azhar Ibrahim is a lecturer at the Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore (NUS). He obtained his Ph.D. and Master’s degree from the same department in NUS. Prior to his current appointment, he was a lecturer at the National Institute of Education (NIE) at Nanyang Technological University, teaching classical and modern Malay literature, sociology of the Malays, as well as Islamic intellectual traditions and civilization. His research interest includes sociology of religion, sociology of literature and critical literacy, and Malay-Indonesia intellectual development.
Dr Philips Vermonte is the current Dean of the Faculty of Social Science at Universitas Islam Internasional Indonesia (UIII). Prior to his current appointment, he served as the Executive Director for Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Indonesia. He obtained his Master of Arts degree in International Studies from the Department of Politics at the University of Adelaide, Australia, in 2001 and obtained his Ph.D. in Political Science at Northern Illinois University, Dekalb, the USA, in 2012. His research interest focuses primarily on political parties, decentralization, Indonesian domestic politics, and elections.
Registration
This webinar will be delivered online entirely. You can join the webinar at the specified date and time using devices (computer, phone, or tablet) with internet connection.
Please register here to receive your unique link for joining the webinar.
Limited spaces only, register early to avoid disappointment.
To join the webinar,
1. Install the Zoom client onto your computer or download the app on your mobile device.
2. Click on the unique link in your email.
If you have questions for the speakers, please key in your questions via the Q&A, stating your name and affiliation. The moderator will field them to the speakers during the Q&A session.