50,000 join mass prayer in Madura

50,000 join mass prayer in Madura

JAKARTA (JP): More than 50,000 East Java Moslems affiliated to
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) organization held a mass gathering in
Bangkalan, Madura, Saturday to pray for religious harmony, peace
and national unity.

The three-hour prayer, watched by dozens of security officers,
passed off without incident, Antara reported.

NU, with an estimated 30 million members, is Indonesia's
largest religious and educational organization. Its leader,
controversial Moslem scholar Abdurrahman Wahid, did not attend
the mass prayer.

Program coordinator Nuruddin A. Rahman said the prayers also
asked for God's protection of the Madurese in other provinces.

Migrants from Madura in West Kalimantan were involved in
recent ethnic clashes with native Dayaks, in which hundreds are
believed to have died. As a consequence many of the migrants have
returned to Madura.

The prayers began with the reading of tahlil (repeated
confessions of faith) and a prayer of praise of the prophet
Muhammad.

The tahlil reading was started by Nasyir Yasid of Bangkalan,
and continued by preachers from other East Java regencies.

The gathering, attended by government officials including
Bangkalan regent Jakfar Syafei, was closed by well-known
Bangkalan ulama Abdullah Schal.

Non-Moslems respected the occasion by closing their shops.
They said missing one day's trade in honor of the ceremony would
not cause them a significant loss.

Many Moslems from organizations other than NU were also
present.

In Surabaya, the military called on NU members to cooperate
with the authorities by notifying the Armed Forces' alert centers
of possible unrest.

Spokesman for the Brawijaya military command Brig. Gen. Muchdi
PR said information from the public was needed to prevent a riot
similar to the one that occurred in Situbondo in October last
year.

"We know that NU plays an important role in maintaining
security in East Java," he said. "ABRI (Armed Forces) members
number fewer than 30,000 personnel while the province's
population is almost 35 million."

The Oct. 10 riot in Situbondo was triggered by the sentencing
of a Moslem to five years imprisonment.

An angry mob torched 21 churches, five Catholic elementary
schools, one Christian orphanage, two plazas, one court building,
three cars and five motorcycles.

Situbondo is one of NU's main strongholds. (01)