Indonesia's existence at stake: Syafii<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Muhammadiyah chairman Syafii Ma'arif warned on
\nTuesday the current political turmoil had reached a critical
\npoint that could see the country break apart.<\/p>\n
\"The question is not whether the President or his government
\nsurvive. For me, the very existence of this nation is at stake.
\nWe need to save the nation,\" Syafii said during a discussion at
\nThe Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
While refraining from directly calling on President
\nAbdurrahman Wahid to resign, Syafii said new national leadership
\ncould save the country from disintegration.<\/p>\n
\"Disintegration is not just a phenomena, it is a real danger.
\nI don't know if this nation can be saved,\" he said, adding,
\nhowever, that he remained optimistic. \"I'm never pessimistic. I'm
\nalways trying to do something.\"<\/p>\n
Muhammadiyah is Indonesia's second largest Muslim social
\norganization after Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which Abdurrahman
\nchaired until he was elected president in October 1999.<\/p>\n
In spite of their common denominator, Muhammadiyah and
\nNahdlatul Ulama have a long history of political rivalry.<\/p>\n
The current political battle between President Abdurrahman
\nWahid and Amien Rais, the speaker of the People's Consultative
\nAssembly and a former chairman of Muhammadiyah, has often been
\nportrayed by their supporters as a battle between the two
\norganizations.<\/p>\n
Syafii dismissed Abdurrahman's claim the nation would crumble
\nif he stepped down from the presidency.<\/p>\n
He recalled that when he recently asked former human rights
\naffairs minister and Aceh political figure Hasballah Saad about
\nthe President's claim, the latter quipped: \"On the contrary.\"<\/p>\n
\"Never in the history of Indonesia has the state been this
\nfragile,\" Syafii said. \"Security is nonexistent and economic and
\npolitical development are not improving either.\"<\/p>\n
He accused the President of having the tendency to reduce the
\ncomplex problems of the state into simplistic terms.<\/p>\n
Syafii said Muhammadiyah would never engage in practical
\npolitics, but that it would voice its concern if the nation was
\nin danger.<\/p>\n
The organization is ready to accept Vice President Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri as president should Abdurrahman step aside, he
\nsaid, although he recalled that he personally opposed her
\npresidential aspirations back in 1999 to the point of putting his
\njob on the line.<\/p>\n
\"Constitutionally, she's next in line,\" he conceded.<\/p>\n
He said Muhammadiyah's opposition to Megawati becoming
\npresident 18 months ago was not based on her gender, the reason
\ncited by a number of Muslim-based political parties.<\/p>\n
\"It was more based on fears that she would be controlled by
\nother forces. She had not yet proven herself,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He also pointed out that Megawati's Indonesian Democratic
\nParty of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) was filled with \"fugitives\"
\nfrom Golkar, the ruling party of the Soeharto regime.<\/p>\n
Syafii said Muhammadiyah never endorsed Abdurrahman for
\npresident either, although it was Amien Rais, as chairman of the
\nNational Mandate Party (PAN), who nominated the NU leader for the
\npost.<\/p>\n
Megawati was the leading candidate in the 1999 presidential
\nelection after PDI Perjuangan garnered the most votes in the
\ngeneral election a few months earlier.<\/p>\n
\"Things have changed since then. That's politics,\" Syafii said
\nof his willingness now to accept Megawati as president.<\/p>\n
Asked whether a Megawati presidency would be sufficient to
\nstop the process of national disintegration, he said not
\nnecessarily.<\/p>\n
\"I can't say whether Megawati will be better. It will depend
\non her Cabinet,\" he said, adding that she would likely be able to
\nhold the presidency until the end of the term in 2004 \"if she
\npicked the right people for the right posts\".<\/p>\n
Two qualities that will help Megawati if she becomes president
\nare her patience and perseverance, he added.<\/p>\n
On Amien Rais, who has been criticized by some as being a
\npolitical opportunist, Syafii said Muhammadiyah had reproached
\nits former chairman on several occasions for his actions.<\/p>\n
He faulted Amien largely for the methods he used in trying to
\nachieve his objectives, methods he said that often bordered on
\nthe unethical.<\/p>\n
\"Deep down, he is truly committed to helping the small people.
\nBut his delivery may be wanting,\" Syafii said.<\/p>\n
He likened Amien to a forward on a soccer team: \"A good
\nstriker, but a poor dribbler\".<\/p>\n
In contrast, House of Representatives Speaker and Golkar Party
\nchairman Akbar Tandjung is a \"good dribbler who can't strike\", he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Amien is a relative newcomer to the political arena, Syafii
\nsaid. \"In that regard, he has come a long way. His main fault is
\nin his method, but not in his substance.\" (emb)<\/p>",
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