NU's Inclusive Service in its Second Century
NU can fill strategic spaces whose benefits can be felt by the nation and the world. Only through this way can NU truly serve broadly.
February 7, 2023 is a special moment for Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) members. On this date, NU has become one century old based on the Hijri calendar; an age that is certainly no longer young for this social organization with a mass base of 108 million people (LSI survey, 2021). The large mass base has made Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) not only the largest in Indonesia, but also the world.
It is not surprising that NU has always been placed at the top of mind or the main reference by Muslims in Indonesia. The fatwa from the ulama is used as a reference. The public's trust in Islamic boarding schools and educational institutions based on NU teachings is also quite large. It is no exaggeration that NU is considered to have a big role as a socio-religious center of gravity and at the same time controlling the dynamics of the ummah.
The public's trust in Islamic boarding schools and educational institutions based on NU teachings is also quite large.
Until now, that role has not changed. The challenges that continue to develop today lead NU to think about strategies and the formulation of ideas that are relevant to the times, especially regarding its contributions to human civilization. Futuristic ideas are clearly necessary for an organization that has surpassed a century.
Therefore, reflecting on NU's progress over a century, it is not enough to count NU's great struggles from the colonial period to the present, but also to formulate ideas that can be included in the main program as a road map for the future for Indonesia and the world.
Initiatives create global space
It is important for this article to remind NU's position as the initiator for the creation of progress and balance of human civilization in the future. The maturity of experience and strength as a jama'ah or jam'iyahis needed to develop some potential as a sufficient modality to realize these big goals.
NU organizations need to implement the concept of wasathiyah which includes justice, moderation and balance. This concept that has been promoted by NU for a long time has made it possible for this Islamic mass organization to be in the middle of a global competition without barriers involving different ideologies, countries or communities. NU organizations need to initiate the birth of a conducive space through various formats, both in residency programs and collaborative dialogues.
Providing a conducive space in order to facilitate an open exchange of ideas that refer to an orientation of human values is important.
The existence of this interaction space is intended so that NU is able to expand the participation of many countries and communities by utilizing the global network. One of the conditions that must also be met is that NU needs to have professional resources and digital learning facilities that cover more than 50 major languages in the world.
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This is very necessary so that NU can make efforts to facilitate the interaction of various parties around the world. This is because in the midst of digitalization and economic competition, the world still needs real collaboration with clear standards of value reference. In addition, the development of human civilization since the last five centuries has taught that one of the important factors for increasing the level of human progress and welfare is largely determined by the existence of technology.
Technology progress is largely determined by the speed of knowledge accumulation. The speed of accumulation of knowledge depends on socio-cultural factors, such as the value system and the presence of noble moral teachings.
This premise is not static. When technology innovations that gave birth to modernization developed rapidly, the world was then faced with various problems, including social inequality, the decline of morality and ecological problems that threaten human survival. This is where NU's existence as part of a world entity with the idea of forming a space for global collaboration is expected to play a role.
Inclusive service
One of the main values that NU always upholds is its commitment to serving the people. However, for almost a century, there has been a tendency that the services carried out by NU are still limited to its circle of communities or tend to be exclusive. NU needs to expand its services to be more inclusive so that it can reach all groups of people from various backgrounds.
Inclusiveness can be understood as NU's principle of serving and sharing contributions with various parties regardless of background. In the national context, inclusiveness is aimed at creating an atmosphere of harmony above national heterogeneity and creating national stability amidst political dynamics.
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Meanwhile, in the global dimension, NU's responsibility to expand the scope of service to humanity is a priority that must be fulfilled in this second century. Of course the problems faced are much more complex and usually involve the projection of thinking that is far ahead. However, NU must start getting used to futuristic thinking. NU cadres must make all the potential that might occur in the future a reality.
The problem of how humans deal with the effects of climate change which can damage the carrying capacity of the environment, energy crises, food scarcity, potential conflicts, and the need to accelerate innovation to create new/renewable energy are issues that should be discussed daily by NU cadres.
Experience teaches that human insensitivity and indifference to the probability of future threats, such as climate change, can easily affect the boom and bust cycle or what the distinguished American historian, James Harvey Robinson, called it a civilization headed for both its rise and fall.
The reality is that the world is at a crossroads. Between turning right or left: to manage the survival of life or misdirect toward mass destruction. In this context, as one of the non-state forces that has been tested for a century, NU must be actively involved.
NU's ability as jama'ah and jam'iyah in expanding the scope of inclusiveness is determined by NU's readiness to direct all its potentials.
Develop modality
NU has all the resources to become empowered. In terms of quantity, NU does not lack the number of human resources. Only capacity needs to be increased with knowledge and adaptation to the times. The existence of abundant cadres in all corners of the world is an important modality in addition to the provision of teachings and ideological foundations owned by NU.
Potential development within NU must begin with a holistic approach. This means that potential development does not only occur at the level of organizers (jam'iyah), but also reaches the intuitive dimension of the ummah (jama'ah). This needs to be done so that NU is able to optimally synergize all existing forces.
Specifically, the potential development approach as a modality owned by NU can be carried out in two steps. First, starting with setting priorities according to the macro needs and challenges faced by the nation and the world in the future. Thus, the potential developed is also applicable or according to the needs of the times.
NU can fill strategic spaces whose benefits can be felt by the nation and the world.
Second, conducting cross-domain mapping (jama'ah-jam'iyah) to see the potential strength of the resources that are owned by referring to the latest data. What needs to be emphasized here is that the main target of this development project should be directed at NU youth, especially the senior high school age group who are studying at NU schools or at NU Islamic boarding schools.
At the university level, many young NU cadres have made choices about their scientific concentration, which to this day is dominated by the socio-political and religious sciences. For this reason, NU needs to provide rooms and facilities earlier at the lower levels, so that there are young NU cadres who are pursuing scientific concentrations that are urgently needed in the future amidst the low literacy culture and technological development of our younger generation.
It is hoped that in the future, NU will be able to give birth to young cadres who are active in many ways, such as researchers or engineers in the field of future technology, which include big data specialists, artificial intelligence learning specialists and all kinds of new jobs, which, according to the World Economic Forum Forecast Labor Market Evolution report, will be urgently needed in the next 20 years.
Through potential development and adaptation efforts, NU can fill strategic spaces whose benefits can be felt by the nation and the world. Only through this way can NU truly serve broadly (in an inclusive manner). Hopefully all of NU's collective thoughts and endeavors in this second century will find ease and blessings.
H Rahmat Hidayat Pulungan
H Rahmat Hidayat Pulungan, Deputy Secretary-General of PBNU
This article was translated by Kurniawan Siswo.
