A large number of NU members in Jombang and Indonesia in general were disappointed with the leadership of PPP under Naro, an MI exponent, since he created an unfavourable situation which resulted in deep conflicts between the various PPP factions. It is commonly perceived that under his leadership, the ideals of the party were replaced by personal ambition. He was thus deemed not to be struggling for Muslim society but rather for his individual benefit. PPP was hence more a medium for personal gain rather than a medium of Islamic struggle.

After NU launched its policy of ‘back to khittah’ nationally in 1984, some kiai in Jombang explicitly encouraged their followers to support Golkar in the 1987 general election. This was because the essence of the policy allowed NU members to affiliate with any political organisation. As some kiai and NU politicians felt that NU was disadvantaged by MI in PPP, they used ‘back to khittah’ and NU dissociation from the party to weaken the party. This political manoeuvre was called penggembosan. The penggembosan was carried out nationally; not only by discouraging NU members to vote for PPP, but also by asking them to vote for Golkar in the 1987 general election. The leadership of NU in Jombang tended explicitly to support the politics of penggembosan. The 1987 general election therefore confused Muslim voters in many respects due to the different support offered by different Islamic leaders. This election was the first time the vote of the devout Muslims, NU members in particular, was divided between various political parties.

Penggembosan was successful in reducing PPP's national share of votes from 25.8 percent in the 1982 election to 15.3 percent in the 1987. In Jombang PPP's votes in 1987 decreased by 36 percent^[19] compared to that in 1982. Such a decline was caused by the influence of some kiai who supported penggembosan. It is thus evident that the launch of the ‘back to khittah’ policy in 1984 changed the support pattern for existing political parties in Jombang. The encouragement of some kiai to support the government party and their tacit support of the penggembosan movement were significant factors since they succeeded in turning one third of PPP supporters away from the party. Although the penggembosan movement was not a formal policy of NU, it was nevertheless sustained by the tacit support of some kiai in the mainstream of NU, either locally or nationally. Many kiai in the NU mainstream and their followers throughout Indonesia considered that the PPP political leadership needed to be weakened since it was deemed as being undemocratically run^[20] to the disadvantage of NU, the largest component of the party.

Seen as a retaliatory political manoeuvre, the penggembosan movement was popular among NU activists in Jombang. Such a situation gave legitimacy, particularly for younger activists, to even press NU members to leave PPP. The attitude of these younger activists was based on their understanding of the policy launched by NU a year before. The policy actually only recommended that NU activists not occupy positions in both PPP and NU leadership. But since the majority of NU activists were disappointed with Naro's leadership, they asked their colleagues to leave PPP. A senior kiai, who was still affiliated with PPP, for example, was forced by ANSOR activists (Ansor is an organisation of NU youth) to leave the party. The same experience held true with a former local ANSOR president who had been very active in the party^[21]. 

In Jombang there were at least two groups of Muslims, each of which was led by kiai who showed opposing attitudes towards penggembosan. Although the supporting group was a minority in terms of number, its political voice in conducting this politics in Jombang was heard and gained national acceptance, making this movement succesful. In Jombang some kiai and their pesantren were also active in supporting this movement. Three out of the four larger pesantren, Pesantren Tebuireng, Pesantren Denanyar and Pesantren Bahrul Ulum ^[22], supported the penggembosan. The heads of Pesantren Tebuireng and Pesantren Denanyar, Hajj Yusuf Hasyim and Kiai Shohib Bisri respectively, actively promoted this political movement. The leader of Pesantren Bahrul Ulum, however, only gave tacit support. According to one source (see Fathoni and Zen, 1992), both Hajj Yusuf Hasyim and Kiai Shohib Bisri were included in the big four penggembos (persons who carried out the penggembosan) in East Java. Hajj Yusuf Hasyim was a national political figure, while Kiai Shobib Bisri was an NU political figure at the provincial level. Kiai Shohib Bisri was the formal president of the local NU leadership in Jombang at that time. 

However, it needs to be noted that despite the formal involvement of the top leaders of these pesantren in the penggembosan, few kiai who taught in and had a familial connection with the founders of these pesantren, agreed with this political manoeuvre. The same held true of some santri. The point is that only a few of these kiai and their santri showed enough disagreement to confront the leaders. This situation made the impact of penggembosan on the PPP share of the vote vary.

Although the involvement of the kiai who supported the penggembosan contributed to the general decrease in the PPP share of the vote in Jombang, the evidence indicate that this does not necessarily mean that PPP in the kecamatan in which their kiai were active in this political manoeuvre suffered the worst decline. Table 6.4 indicates that the greatest decline in PPP's share of the vote in the 1987 general election occurred in Perak and Kesamben (more than 50 percent). PPP's share of the vote in Kecamatan Diwek and Jombang, where Hajj Yusuf Hasyim and Kiai Shohib Bisri lived, declined by about 28.2 and 42.9 percent respectively. Of all kecamatan, PPP experienced the greatest decline (about 70.4 percent) in Wonosalam, a kecamatan where there was no local kiai involved in penggembosan.

As these politics were a retaliatory movement which aimed to show that NU had a powerful political influence at the grassroots level (due to the fact that the majority of PPP supporters were derived from this organisation) after it was disadvantaged by Naro, the leader of PPP, the penggembosan was only a temporary political manoeuvre. These politics were not based on particular principles in regard to the kiai politics. It is not surprising that the political attitude of the kiai and other NU activists changed in the next general election. No similar political manoeuvre was conducted in the 1992 general election. According to an observer^[23], Kiai Shohib Bisri concerned himself with PPP's share of the vote in the 1992 general election in East Java. This kiai monitored all developments of PPP during the election. His assistants gave him a daily report on the position of PPP in various regions in East Java. In addition, there was also a request from a PPP leader in Jombang that Kiai Shohib Bisri not ask Muslims to leave PPP, even though this kiai was disappointed with this party.

Although the penggembosan movement succeeded in causing the defection of many NU members from PPP, because some kiai gave their support to this political manoeuvre, it is interesting that the majority of respondents in my study regarded such a movement as inappropriate. Of the 182 respondents interviewed, 64.8 percent noted their disagreement (see Table 6.5). Their reasons varied from a perception that such a movement could split the umma to disapproval of the individual political interests of those who pursued such a political manoeuvre. Only 5.5 percent of respondents agreed with such actions. Nevertheless, I found that 14.3 percent of respondents regarded the penggembosan as the political right of an individual, indicating that these respondents were not disturbed by this political manouvre. For various reasons, only 1 respondent agreed that it was for the sake of NU.

n = 182

(Source: questionnaire)

The tacit disagreement of these Muslim respondents with penggembosan is understandable since in regions where NU's position in the PPP was very strong, like Jombang, the movement was disadvantageous to NU itself. The strength of the NU position can be seen by the fact that of eleven PPP seats in the local parliament in Jombang in 1992, nine were occupied by members of the NU component. Only two being occupied by members of the MI component. Other PPP components, SI and Perti, did not receive any seats in the local parliament. The penggembosan, especially in Jombang, was hence a retaliatory movement which was not based on solid reasoning. The exponents of the penggembosan movement did not listen to the political aspirations of their community, which strongly remained supportive of PPP. They did not understand the existing political ethos held by Muslims, and their political actions generally gave rise to internal conflict among NU members in Jombang.

Although the actual politics of the majority of NU members at the grassroots level were not moved by penggembosan, the exponents of penggembosan won the battle initially because of their hold on NU leadership. Accordingly, the process of withdrawing NU members from PPP in Jombang was significant. NU supporters in PPP came under psychological pressure during and after the penggembosan movement^[24]. They were accused of not being loyal to NU, a situation which created an unfavourable situation for PPP. The perception that “PPP bukan tempat yang bagus buat warga NU” (PPP is not a good place for NU members) was quite strong, at least temporarily. Accordingly, people felt ashamed to support the party. This resulted in a decrease in the popularity of PPP among some Muslims in Jombang. The decline in popularity of PPP in Jombang therefore was not simply because it changed its ideological base (in fact, as I have shown, many people were unaware of this), but also because of the kiai's political direction. The kiais’ decision to encourage Muslims to support the government party, Golkar, was made prior to the 1987 general election in the Pesantren Denanyar, located in the western part of Jombang. It should be noted, however, that this decision was made after long discussion. A young kiai, for example, told me that he initially did not agree with the decision of “encouraging NU members to vote for the government's party”. After being convinced by senior kiai, who suggested that everything was changing in politics, however, he surrendered. He was then asked to encourage Muslims in his district to support Golkar in the 1987 general election^[25]. 

The political manoeuvre of penggembosan left an unconducive situation for the former Islamic party. It has resulted in a long standing conflict among NU members and the kiai. Although a few kiai who conducted penggembosan in the 1987 general election tacitly resupported PPP in the 1992 general election, the penggembosan gave rise to division among NU members. This division was more obvious in the political arena, and was also felt in the social relationships between various groups. I will return to this matter later in this chapter.