TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - President Joko Widodo or Jokowi has granted a special mining permit area or WIUPK to religious organizations, including the Nahdlatul Ulama or NU. The NU Executive Board, or PBNU, claimed that the license had been promised since 2021.

PBNU chairman Yahya Cholil Staquf alias Gus Yahya said the President made the offer in the latter’s speech at the 34th NU Congress in Lampung.

“At the opening of the 34th Congress in Lampung in December 2021, President Jokowi said in his speech that he would provide mining concessions for NU,” Yahya said at the PBNU office in Jakarta on Thursday, June 6.

He assessed that the government has been paying great attention to NU because of its large community. NU reportedly has around 30,000 Islamic boarding schools and other schools managed by the Nahdliyin, or NU communities. Not to mention the number of kindergartens and other infrastructure.

Meanwhile, its resources and capacity are insufficient to continue supporting these various educational programs. These conditions prompted PBNU to call for immediate intervention.

“We see it (the mining license) as an opportunity, so we immediately seize it as we need it. It couldn't be helped,” Gus Yahya said.

President Jokowi had indeed pledged to distribute mining concession permits to religious organizations at the NU conference in December 2021, which was then realized by revising Government Regulation (PP) No. 96 of 2021 on the Implementation of Mineral and Coal Mining Business Activities into PP No. 25 of 2024 on May 30, 2024.

Nevertheless, the President’s decision raised suspicions that it was a reward for PBNU's support for Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi's eldest son, in the 2024 presidential election.

AISYAH AMIRA WAKANG

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