Anas Urbaningrum elected as new HMI chairman<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The Association of Islamic Students (HMI)
\nconcluded its chaotic congress yesterday by electing Anas
\nUrbaningrum as its new chairman for the 1997\/1999 period.<\/p>\n
Marked with brawls among participants and delays in its
\nagenda, the congress gave majority support for the 26-year-old
\npostgraduate student of the University of Indonesia's School of
\nSocial and Political Sciences over six other candidates.<\/p>\n
Replacing Taufik Hidayat, Anas won 128 out of 316 votes. Three
\nother candidates -- Viva Yoga Mauladi, Umar Husein and Muzakhir
\nRidha -- won 80, 65 and 43 votes respectively.<\/p>\n
Anas had from the start appeared to be the strongest contender
\nin the congress which had been scheduled to conclude on Tuesday.
\nMore than a third of 103 HMI branches expressed their support for
\nAnas, who passed with honors from the undergraduate
\nsociopolitical program at the University of Airlangga in
\nSurabaya.<\/p>\n
\"With Anas as the (new) chairman, we hope HMI will be able to
\nrestore its declining image as (an organization of)
\nintellectuals,\" said Taufik in his speech. Minister of Religious
\nAffairs Tarmizi Taher closed the congress.<\/p>\n
The congress also reached some important decisions, among
\nwhich was the inclusion of all branch chiefs as members of the
\nplenary council of the executive board.<\/p>\n
The students also drew up a series of recommendations on
\nvarious social and political issues. It called for the
\nestablishment of antimonopoly laws, and a limitation to the
\npresidential term in the post-Soeharto era after 2003.<\/p>\n
The congress also called for the independence of university
\ncampuses from various sociopolitical forces, and for the Armed
\nForces (ABRI) to restore the true meaning of its dual-role
\nfunction. ABRI recognizes the concept of a dual-role function,
\nknown as Dwifungsi, which enables its officers to serve both in
\ndefense and sociopolitical roles.<\/p>\n
Extended<\/p>\n
The biennial congress was opened on Aug. 20 and had been
\nscheduled to close on Aug. 25. It was extended following tension
\nin some of its sessions.<\/p>\n
The plenary session to elect a new chairman, for instance, was
\nscheduled for Monday but only began on Wednesday and concluded
\nyesterday, a few hours before the closing ceremony at 2 p.m.<\/p>\n
As a consequence, the closing ceremony was also delayed
\nseveral times. Tarmizi Taher had originally been invited to
\npreside over the closing ceremony on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"I am touched that Minister Tarmizi made it to the closing
\nceremony,\" Taufik said. \"This helped to disprove critics who said
\nthe HMI congress (was neglected by) top government officials.\"<\/p>\n
Some senior officials -- including Minister of Home Affairs
\nMoch. Yogie S. M. and State Minister of Public Housing Akbar
\nTandjung -- failed to attend the congress, as did prominent
\nHMI alumni, such as scholars Nurcholis Madjid and Yusril Ihza
\nMahendra.<\/p>\n
Anas will also chair a team entrusted with the task of
\nestablishing a full lineup of the organization's central board.<\/p>\n
Sources said many of the sessions were delayed or prolonged
\nbecause of the tension that arose when the congress heard Taufik
\ndeliver his accountability speech in a closed meeting which
\nlasted for two days.<\/p>\n
The tension took the form of fist fights and chair tossing by
\nparticipants. Some of the delegates were injured and needed
\nmedical treatment.<\/p>\n
Even after the session concluded, some participants still
\nexpressed dissatisfaction with Taufik's account of his leadership
\nfor the 1995\/1997 term.<\/p>\n
On the sideline, the women's wing of HMI, known as Kohati,
\nheld its own meeting which was also marked with its own problems.
\nSecretary of the wing's Bandung branch, Yanti, was reportedly
\nkidnapped on Tuesday afternoon and was locked inside a house
\nuntil early Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Yanti, who claimed to lead pro-democracy cadres of Kohati,
\nsaid her as yet unidentified abductors threatened her not to
\nstand in the Kohati chairwoman election. She had been scheduled
\nto give a press conference on Tuesday, during which she planned
\nto call for autonomy for the women's wing. (swa\/23)<\/p>",
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