Abdurrahman brushes aside extramarital affair charge

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)