Amien Rais yet to decide on planned coalition

Amien Rais yet to decide on planned coalition

JAKARTA (JP): Amien Rais, chairman of the 28 million strong
Muhammadiyah Moslem organization, has yet to decide whether he
will join a planned coalition of proreform activists.

Amien, a leading figure in Indonesia's reform movement, said
in the Central Java capital of Semarang on Sunday that he wanted
to study the coalition concept before making a decision.

"Besides, I haven't been contacted (by those who are
initiating the coalition)," he said after opening a Muhammadiyah
leadership meeting.

The plan to form a coalition of reformists was announced on
Saturday by prominent political activists, including Megawati
Soekarnoputri, Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) chairman Abdurrahman Wahid,
Echo of Civil Society chairman Emil Salim and former energy
minister Soebroto.

They discussed the plan which they hope will ensure political
reform continues to progress in the country during an informal
gathering at Abdurrahman's residence in South Jakarta.

Soebroto said the coalition members would form a loose forum
but would not set up a political party, adding that anybody could
join the coalition.

Amien also said that Muhammadiyah would not decide whether it
would meet its supporters' calls to establish its own political
party until the situation had calmed down.

"Muhammadiyah will not decide anything until things settle
down and the political map is clear so that we are sure that any
step that we take is appropriate," he said, as quoted by Antara.

The leadership meeting that ends today will evaluate
Muhammadiyah's past programs, adopt a new five year working
program and review the current situation.

Amien said it would be possible for Muhammadiyah to set up a
political party if the majority of its members asked for it.

Meanwhile, Sri Bintang Pamungkas, chairman of the Indonesian
Democratic Union Party (PUDI), said that his party was ready to
align itself with NU's planned political party.

"We (PUDI and NU) could form an alliance if we share a similar
vision," Bintang said after addressing a seminar on the monetary
crisis at Wijaya Kusuma University in Purwokerto, Central Java,
yesterday.

A number of NU leaders said recently that the largest Moslem
organization in the country would meet its members an supporters'
calls and form a new political party.

Sri Bintang said that the alliance, if it came to be, should
seek total economic and political reform, including an end to the
Armed Forces' (ABRI) role in politics.

"ABRI could channel its political aspirations through the
president, who is also their supreme commander," he said.

He demanded that ABRI withdraw its support for Golkar, the
dominant political grouping, and concentrate on its role of
defending the country.

Bintang insisted that Golkar should not be allowed to
participate in the upcoming general election as "punishment" for
the political sins it committed during the 32 years of former
president Soeharto's rule.

"Unless the people decide otherwise," said Bintang, a former
legislator from the Moslem oriented United Development Party
(PPP) who was once jailed for insulting Soeharto.

Said Agil Siraj, an NU executive, said in Yogyakarta that the
planned coalition deserved support because it would strengthen
the fight to better the nation.

He said that NU and the Indonesian Democratic Party under
Megawati's leadership had agreed to join the coalition because
the two groups had the same vision and interests. (rms/23/44/45)