PBNU Has Prepared Names of Ministerial Candidates
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22 July 2019 20:30 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Nahdlatul Ulama Central Board (PBNU) said it was not seeking any ministerial position in the next cabinet of President Joko Widodo or Jokowi.
“We are not eying [any ministerial post]. Our nature is that if we are asked to join the government by Jokowi, if PBNU is allowed [to be in the government]. We have prepared the names,” said NU secretary-general Helmy Faishal Zaini in Jakarta on Monday, July 22, 2019.
Helmy said it was not mandatory that NU must occupy the position of Religious Affairs Minister. He took for example that Muhammad Nuh was representing NU in the administration of then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as the Minister of Education and Culture.
“I think the position could be anywhere. It does not have to be the Religious Affairs Minister position,” he said.
Thus, Helmy asserted PBNU would abide by the president’s decision as to who would be the most potential candidates to become ministers. “We are sami’na wa ato’na (hear and obey) to the president,” he said.
He added PBNU had yet to submit any names of its candidates to the president as the latter had not asked them to do so. However, he said PBNU chair Said Aqil Siradj had already pocketed the names of the organization’s finest candidates.
HALIDA BUNGA FISANDRA
