Abdurrahman brushes aside extramarital affair charge

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid, when asked by journalists on Tuesday, brushed aside questions about news reports claiming he had an extramarital affair.

He neither confirming nor denied the report.

"Why should you bother with such a thing?" was the President's only reply to journalists who tried to ask him about the report as he was being escorted from Bina Graha presidential office to his official residence at Merdeka Palace.

While his brother, colleagues and staff have all refuted the allegations which surfaced during a magazine interview, this was the only comment that Abdurrahman has made so far.

On Tuesday senior Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) figures in Central Java and East Java called on the organization's 30 million members not to be provoked by reports that President Abdurrahman Wahid had had an extramarital affair with a housewife.

NU Central Java chairman Muhammad Adnan urged NU members to stay calm and not overreact to such reports.

Adnan remarked that he would not be surprised if the report of the affair was followed by other slanderous accusations in a bid to topple the President.

"The rumor was made in a very clear attempt to provoke the President, to get him to suffer another stroke or fall ill again. If that happens the irresponsible groups expect that their choice will be appointed as Gus Dur's successor," Adnan remarked.

The senior ulema, however, hinted that the more smear campaigns launched against the President, the stronger his position would be.

Abdurrahman's name is almost synonymous with NU, which he chaired for nearly 15 years.

In Surabaya, East Java's NU chief Ali Muschan Moesa alleged that "certain groups" had distributed fabricated photographs of Abdurrahman and housewife Aryanti together in a compromising position.

According to Ali, he had instructed NU branches throughout the province to control their youths, especially civilian militia group Banser, and to make sure that they did not react violently.

"We must think calmly, and not become emotional. We want to prevent excessive reactions," Ali said.

Gatra weekly published a report and an interview alleging that Abdurrahman in 1995 had an affair with Aryanti Sitepu.

In Jakarta, M. Sobary, Antara news agency general manager and a close friend of the President, said he felt the report in Gatra was a balanced journalistic report.

"This time the Gatra report is very honorable, very ethical. You must read the report in that context, not in another sense," Sobary said after meeting with the President at Bina Graha.

Declining to disclose whether he also discussed the report with the President, Sobary also defended the news agency's report about the appeal of NU leaders in East Java who asked NU members not to react to the baseless claim.

Sobary, a columnist, played down the magazine's insistence that it became more confident about carrying the story on the alleged affair after the agency's report about the case last week.

"Antara just reported a circular from East Java ulemas. So do not blame us, we just helped to publicize the circular and to calm down NU people so that they should not be provoked," Sobary said.

The magazine quoted Aryanti as saying that she divorce her husband M. Yanur in October 1996, following Abdurrahman's promise to marry her.

Aryanti married again in April 1998 to Muhammad Ali, after she realized that she would not be able to marry Abdurrahman.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affair Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, when asked to comment on the report, said it was Abdurrahman's private matter and it was up to Abdurrahman himself to explain the issue to the public.

"The issue is not the government's business and I believe it is not in my authority to say anything about it because the President can speak for himself to explain to the public about the matter," Susilo said.

Several usually outspoken legislators and critics of the President also seemed hesitant to comment on the report, saying it would be unethical.

Legislator Alvin Lie from the National Mandate Party refused to comment on the report, saying that such a tactic was worthless as a political tool to attack the President.

"It's not elegant to use the scandal against Abdurrahman. Let it be handled by Gus Dur's wife," Alvin remarked. (team)