IPNU Should Formulate Students’ Ideology

Jakarta, NU Online
Nahdlatul Ulama Students Associations (IPNU) should be able to formulate an ideology related to students’ affairs. The ideology is necessary as an effort to make the NU students based-organization powerful.

The statement above was raised in a book discussion “Student Movement Ideology; Reconsruction of Ahlussunnah Wal Jama’ah”, coincided with IPNU Congress XV, held in the Asrama Haji, Pondok Gede, Bekasi, Wednesday (12/7).

Present at the occasion, Muhammad Mustafied, a NU intellectual and activist of Indonesian Muslim Student Movement (PMII), talking about the book written by Arief Rohmat.

Mustafied, former Chairman of Sleman’s PMII, suggested that so far there have been such “space” ignored within IPNU. He mentioned it is struggle principle of IPNU in students world.
“There is an empty space,  what called as a struggle principle of IPNU in students world is nothing,” he said.

So it is understandable, he added, if now IPNU can no longer respond to social problems facing society. “Say that the problem of commercialization, and the rocketing cost of education in Indonesia. IPNU has no such response,” Mustafied said.  

Mustafied admitted that IPNU has an ideology. Nevertheless, he regarded it as the very normative one. “IPNU ideology remains too normative, it is the same as Ansor’s and NU itself,” he added.

That’s why it’s a must, he said, if IPNU wants to constantly come into existence, it needs to reformulate the ideology as a means to respond to social upheavals.

“The existing IPNU ideology should be broken down toward a direction, addressing students problems. Say that can we say that IPNU cadres have no concerns with educational issues anymore, so they are nor IPNU followers (ummat),” Mustafied said. 

Mustaufied expected the reformulation of the IPNU ideology has to be performed through the deeply study, not only based on textual research, but also historical research. It is important as an effort to go beyond the rigid texts.

One important thing, according to Mustaified, is that the tendency of thought movement driven by NU young intellectuals-including IPNU-aimed at realizing it in three respects, Liberalistic, socialistic, and post-colonialist styled-thought movement. (rif)