Amien and colleagues admit to divisions over Soeharto's move

JAKARTA (JP): Leading government critic Amien Rais and his friends expressed outrage over President Soeharto's Tuesday meeting with nine Moslem leaders, a move they admitted had sowed division among "reformists".

Adi Sasono and Dawam Rahardjo, both activists of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI), A. Syafii Maarif of the Muhammadiyah Moslem organization and other activists agreed with Amien that the nine did not represent the majority of Indonesians who wanted to see Soeharto resign.

They were concerned that the meeting -- in which Soeharto agreed to a number of concessions, including the organization of general elections as soon as possible in which he would not run again -- might even create divisions in society.

The nine figures summoned by Soeharto included Moslem scholar Nurcholish Madjid, poet Emha Ainun Nadjib, constitutional law expert Yusril Ihza Mahendra, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Abdurrahman Wahid and deputy chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI) Ali Yafie. The other four were also representatives of Moslem organizations, including Malik Fadjar from Muhammadiyah.

"That meeting was a manipulative maneuver, aimed at obstructing the moves of reformists," Dawam said. "Our goal is that Soeharto must step down...(the meeting) was a ploy in which religion was used for political purposes.

"There are other communities in the country, not only Moslems. Why weren't they invited?" Dawam said.

"That ploy won't work ... because Soeharto's administration no longer has legitimacy," Adi said. "(Soeharto's promise to lead reform) will not work because how can reform be conducted by those who know nothing about reform?"

Adi again expressed anger at what he charged was the exploitation of religious issues for Soeharto's political interests. "This is the problem of our nation, not of only a single group in the community," he said.

"We support Amien Rais not because he's the chairman of Muhammadiyah, but because he has been the most outspoken in his demands for Soeharto's resignation.

"Speaking both personally and as a member of ICMI, I am calling on all elements of the nation to facilitate change (in the national leadership)," he said.

Following the meeting with Soeharto, Nurcholish visited Amien at the Muhammadiyah headquarters in Central Jakarta where they held a media briefing together. Nurcholish defended his and the others' decision to attend the meeting with Soeharto, saying they were "summoned" by the President, as opposed to angling for an invitation or going there without a summons.

Islam teaches that "a bad ulema is one who goes to the palace," Nurcholish said, "but we were summoned, meaning that the power holder who summoned us needed our advise."

At the end of the day, however, Amien agreed that it was no use to blame any fellow friends who had been involved in the campaign for reform. "We need to find common ground and continue," he said.

ABRI

Adi Sasono and Amien Rais also agreed that the ball of change was now in the Armed Forces' (ABRI) court. Reiterating that the only solution to the country's crisis was Soeharto's immediate resignation, Amien said that it was now ABRI which was in the position to decide whether a succession would take place.

"ABRI has to decide now," Amien said.

"The people cannot be beaten, run over or hit over and over," Adi said. "The choices for ABRI are clear. ABRI can either take the side of the people and decide the fate of this nation, or take the side of a government which is corrupt and will surely crumble."

Amien said he planned to meet with ABRI leaders as soon as possible and learn their stance concerning the crisis. "I will meet them (not as a government critic, but) as a child of this nation," he said. (swe)