Habibie predicts lasting stability<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the influential Association of
\nIndonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) B.J. Habibie yesterday
\nappeased concerns about the possibility of political instability
\nwhen President Soeharto is no longer in power.<\/p>\n
Habibie, a close confidant of President Soeharto, told
\njournalists covering the opening of an annual ICMI meeting here
\nthat there was no need to worry about how national development
\nand politics would fare once Soeharto and the 1945 generation of
\ncurrent leaders are no longer in power.<\/p>\n
\"No reason to think about what it would be like after
\nSoeharto..is no longer here,\" said Habibie, also the State
\nMinister of Research and Technology.<\/p>\n
Habibie said he needed to explain there would be sustainable
\ndevelopment and political stability in order to convince
\ninvestors to continue their ventures in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"There's only so much money in this world. Investors would be
\nonly too willing to invest in places with guaranteed security,\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The annual ICMI meeting will last through to tomorrow and is
\nattended by some 300 leading members of the organization's
\nbranches from across the country and abroad.<\/p>\n
In another part of his explanation, Habibie said ICMI,
\nestablished in 1990 and steadily growing in political stature,
\naims to build the nation's human resources and improve people's
\nwelfare. He said most of the about 27 million people still living
\nbelow the poverty line are Moslems.<\/p>\n
\"ICMI has declared war against poverty and ignorance,\" he
\nsaid, adding that it is the mandate of Islam to improve people's
\nlives.<\/p>\n
He rejected suggestions that ICMI, with its current political
\nclout, is striving to advance only Moslems at the expense of
\nother religious groups. \"That is not the teaching of Islam,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He also denied speculations that ICMI was trying to \"Islamize\"
\nthe country and its existing system. \"The growing number of
\nMoslems should not be considered a threat to people of other
\nfaiths because Islam teaches its followers to be tolerant of
\nother people,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Politics<\/p>\n
A number of prominent scholars addressed the meeting
\nyesterday, including Nurcholish Madjid and director of ICMI
\nthink-tank the Center for Information and Development Studies
\n(CIDES) Adi Sasono.<\/p>\n
Nurcholish said the emergence of prominent Moslem
\nintellectuals over the past two decades has indeed brought
\nchanges to the country's political constellation.<\/p>\n
Nurcholish said Moslems are now at the threshold of entering
\nthe top of the political power pyramid, and compared the
\nsituation to the past when Islamic communities were made to stand
\non the sidelines.<\/p>\n
\"Those who feel threatened by the development dislike ICMI,
\nand say things such as 'Islamization' (of politics),\" he said.<\/p>\n
He reminded those present that ICMI was established to group
\nintellectuals. If in its course the association turned out to
\nhave political influence, it was because some members had been
\nrecruited into the bureaucracy.<\/p>\n
Adi Sasono later admitted that no group has the same access to
\ndecision makers in Indonesia as ICMI.<\/p>\n
\"It's why ICMI has been accused of having been coopted, of
\nbeing power-greedy. But this is really a question of
\ncapabilities, without which people would not be able to 'enter',\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
He said Indonesia will soon have to weather increasing world
\nattention on issues such as environmental preservation, human
\nrights protection and democratization.<\/p>\n
He accused developed countries of employing \"social clauses\"
\nfor their own economic interests. (03\/swe)<\/p>",
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