Achmad opens ICMI congress

Achmad opens ICMI congress

JAKARTA (JP): The third congress of the Association of
Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) was opened on Thursday by
its acting chairman Achmad Tirtosudiro, who stressed the
importance of human resources development.

"As many people choose political parties, it's a chance for
ICMI to focus on the development of human resources," Achmad, who
also chairs the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA), said in his
address to around 1,000 participants at the Pencak Silat Center
near the Indonesia Miniature Park, East Jakarta. The congress is
held every five years.

He urged ICMI, as a group of intellectuals, to continue its
struggle for improving human resources quality, both in their
religious and professional standards.

He claimed that ICMI's cadres, who include members of the
bureaucracy apparatus, had contributed much to the democratic
transition period from the New Order to the current reform era.

"Our intellectual cadres were also involved in asking the
former President to step down. We also contributed to the
acceleration of the democratization process during the term of
former president B.J. Habibie," he remarked.

Habibie, who has led the association since its inception in
1990, failed to show up for the ceremony.

Achmad said Habibie was accompanying his ailing wife in
Germany.

"Pak Habibie said he hoped to see ICMI's existence maintained
to help the nation foster unity," Achmad said.

He said ICMI would also remain an association of intellectuals
of various backgrounds and educations.

As a religious-based organization, Achmad said ICMI had
succeeded in leading Muslims from a peripheral to a major role in
the country's political scene.

The four-day congress will elect a new chairman and other
executives for the next five-year term.

Several names have been tipped to replace Habibie, including
the incumbent secretary-general and former minister of
cooperative and small and medium enterprises Adi Sasono and ICMI
deputy chairman M. Dawam Rahardjo.

During Habibie's term, many ICMI members held crucial
ministerial and other government posts.

Several ICMI's senior members, including chairman of the
Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) Satrio Budihardjo Joedono, and former
state minister for food A.M. Sjaifuddin, attended the ceremony.

President Abdurrahman Wahid was known as an outspoken critic
of the association in the past. (jun)