Amien tenders resignation from ICMI council post

JAKARTA (JP): Amien Rais, chief of the experts council of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI), has tendered his resignation from his post at the influential organization, citing his heavy schedule at the Muhammadiyah Moslem organization.

The decision was announced on Saturday evening by the association's chairman, B.J. Habibie, only hours after Amien Rais had refuted rumors that Habibie was demanding his resignation.

The rumors, which began circulating early last week, alleged that Amien had become a liability due to his critical stance on certain government policies, including those on foreign investment in mining projects in Irian Jaya and East Kalimantan.

"No one has called for, ordered or requested the resignation of Amien Rais, Parni Hadi, Adi Sasono and Jimly Asshidique. What happened was that Amien Rais resigned because of technical reasons," Habibie was quoted by Antara as saying.

The others mentioned are prominent association members known to be close to Amien. Parni is chief editor of the Republika daily, Adi is ICMI secretary-general as well as director of the association's Center for Information and Development Studies, while Jimly is a bureaucrat at the Ministry of Education and Culture.

For the past several days, Amien had insisted that it was "impossible" for him to resign from ICMI.

Habibie, however, said Amien had wanted to resign since last year on the grounds that the council of experts he chairs had been less than productive. Over the period of 14 months since Amien was elected chairman, the council had only convened twice, compared to the association's board of advisors that had held 18 meetings.

"I won't be able to decide things alone, however. I will have to discuss them in a plenary meeting," Habibie said. The plenary meeting will take place today (Monday) and will be attended by all members of the board of advisors, the council of experts and the executive board.

Habibie added: "The plenary meeting will Insya Allah (God willing) approve Amien's request, and Amien will probably become a member of the association's board of advisors."

The minister hinted that a member of the advisory board, Fuad Bawazier, who is also the tax director general, is likely to replace Amien as chairman of the council of experts.

"Everything is falling into the right place. Fuad goes to the council of experts, and Amien goes to the board of advisors," Habibie said.

Habibie, a close confidant of President Soeharto, denied speculation that Amien's removal from the council was politically motivated.

He also denied that Amien had been removed because President Soeharto was upset by his criticism of the mining activities of the giant American mining company, Freeport, in Irian Jaya or the planned foreign investment in the Busang coal mining project in East Kalimantan.

"There's no such thing. This is a very simple matter. Very simple. Don't make it complicated," he said.

Amien acknowledged that he had learned a lesson and said that in the future he would be wiser when expressing his views.

"Several ICMI members have suggested that I reduce my outspokenness," he admitted. "Becoming wiser doesn't mean that my criticism of injustices will be less sharp. I'll probably just use softer language." (swe/12)