Violence forestalled?<\/p>\n
However one looks at it, the recommendations made by the
\nrecently concluded plenary meeting of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in
\nCilegon, Banten, must be a sort of anticlimax.<\/p>\n
As we all know, Indonesia's political landscape is at present
\ndivided into two sharply opposing camps, with those who are for
\nAbdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid maintaining his presidency until the
\nend of his term in 2004 standing on one side of the divide and
\nthose who want him to go as soon as possible on the other.<\/p>\n
For the President's opponents, the recommendations that
\nemerged from the Cilegon meeting are, at least to a certain
\ndegree, gratifying enough. At least the NU leaders present at the
\nmeeting rejected the use of violence to defend the President.
\nAmien Rais, who is one of the most outspoken political
\nantagonists of Gus Dur, as well as being the speaker of the
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and a former chairman of the
\nMuhammadiyah Islamic organization, saw in it reason enough to
\nexpress his gratitude to the NU leaders.<\/p>\n
As NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi told reporters after the meeting
\non Sunday, his organization would sincerely accept the reality of
\nGus Dur being deposed as President, but only if he were to be
\nreplaced through constitutional political procedures.<\/p>\n
In the present case, however, Hasyim explained, the NU
\nreligious leaders (kyai) felt that Gus Dur was being ousted by
\nforce and unfair means. So, he said, the kyai thought they had to
\ndefend the President -- not because he was a kyai and a former NU
\nchairman, but "as part of the effort to fight tyranny". But while
\nthe NU leaders at the Cilegon meeting rejected the planned use of
\nviolence or calls for NU members to volunteer for a jihad to
\ndefend the President, they underscored the fact that this move
\nwas a response to the attempts by Gus Dur's political adversaries
\nto oust him from power by force.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the meeting approved of plans to take resolute
\naction against bughot (an attempt to overthrow a lawfully
\nestablished government according to Islamic law), calls for a
\njihad and plans to hold a istighotsah (mass prayer meeting) on
\nApril 29 -- the day before the House of Representatives is
\nscheduled to convene to serve a second memorandum of censure on
\nthe President, which technically would open the way for
\nimpeachment procedures against the President to be initiated.<\/p>\n
To people already skeptical, those two points -- the apparent
\ndilution of the statement of the rejection of violence by putting
\nthe blame on the other side and sticking to the recommendations
\non bughot and jihad proposed some time ago by a meeting of kyai
\nin Sukabumi, West Java -- are not particularly encouraging.
\nFurthermore, the Cilegon meeting failed to specifically condemn
\nor put an end to plans by Gus Dur's supporters in East Java to
\nsend jihad volunteers to Jakarta to keep the President in power.<\/p>\n
Such skepticism appears to also be shared by the market, with
\nthe rupiah slipping further to near the 11,000 rupiah per U.S.
\ndollar level on Tuesday. The rupiah had already fallen to Rp
\n10,830-Rp 10,850 by midday on Tuesday. As of Tuesday some 50,000
\nhard-core Gus Dur supporters, believed to be mostly NU members,
\nhad registered as volunteers who were ready to die for Gus Dur.
\nHowever, polls conducted by Metro TV television station in
\nJakarta on Monday evening showed that an overwhelming majority of
\nIndonesians were against the NU holding an istighotsah mass
\nprayer meeting on April 29 -- this despite assurances from NU
\nleaders that the meeting was intended merely to pray for the
\nPresident's well-being.<\/p>\n
For the present, Jakarta's citizenry can only hope that their
\nfears of violence and bloodshed in the near future will remain
\nunsubstantiated. Violence at this stage would not only plunge the
\ncountry into still greater disaster, it would no doubt deliver a
\ndevastating blow to the prestige of President Abdurrahman Wahid,
\nthe NU and Abdurrahman's small and fledgling National Awakening
\nParty (PKB).<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/violence-forestalled-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}