Anas Urbaningrum elected as new HMI chairman
Anas Urbaningrum elected as new HMI chairman
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The Association of Islamic Students (HMI)
concluded its chaotic congress yesterday by electing Anas
Urbaningrum as its new chairman for the 1997/1999 period.
Marked with brawls among participants and delays in its
agenda, the congress gave majority support for the 26-year-old
postgraduate student of the University of Indonesia's School of
Social and Political Sciences over six other candidates.
Replacing Taufik Hidayat, Anas won 128 out of 316 votes. Three
other candidates -- Viva Yoga Mauladi, Umar Husein and Muzakhir
Ridha -- won 80, 65 and 43 votes respectively.
Anas had from the start appeared to be the strongest contender
in the congress which had been scheduled to conclude on Tuesday.
More than a third of 103 HMI branches expressed their support for
Anas, who passed with honors from the undergraduate
sociopolitical program at the University of Airlangga in
Surabaya.
"With Anas as the (new) chairman, we hope HMI will be able to
restore its declining image as (an organization of)
intellectuals," said Taufik in his speech. Minister of Religious
Affairs Tarmizi Taher closed the congress.
The congress also reached some important decisions, among
which was the inclusion of all branch chiefs as members of the
plenary council of the executive board.
The students also drew up a series of recommendations on
various social and political issues. It called for the
establishment of antimonopoly laws, and a limitation to the
presidential term in the post-Soeharto era after 2003.
The congress also called for the independence of university
campuses from various sociopolitical forces, and for the Armed
Forces (ABRI) to restore the true meaning of its dual-role
function. ABRI recognizes the concept of a dual-role function,
known as Dwifungsi, which enables its officers to serve both in
defense and sociopolitical roles.
Extended
The biennial congress was opened on Aug. 20 and had been
scheduled to close on Aug. 25. It was extended following tension
in some of its sessions.
The plenary session to elect a new chairman, for instance, was
scheduled for Monday but only began on Wednesday and concluded
yesterday, a few hours before the closing ceremony at 2 p.m.
As a consequence, the closing ceremony was also delayed
several times. Tarmizi Taher had originally been invited to
preside over the closing ceremony on Monday.
"I am touched that Minister Tarmizi made it to the closing
ceremony," Taufik said. "This helped to disprove critics who said
the HMI congress (was neglected by) top government officials."
Some senior officials -- including Minister of Home Affairs
Moch. Yogie S. M. and State Minister of Public Housing Akbar
Tandjung -- failed to attend the congress, as did prominent
HMI alumni, such as scholars Nurcholis Madjid and Yusril Ihza
Mahendra.
Anas will also chair a team entrusted with the task of
establishing a full lineup of the organization's central board.
Sources said many of the sessions were delayed or prolonged
because of the tension that arose when the congress heard Taufik
deliver his accountability speech in a closed meeting which
lasted for two days.
The tension took the form of fist fights and chair tossing by
participants. Some of the delegates were injured and needed
medical treatment.
Even after the session concluded, some participants still
expressed dissatisfaction with Taufik's account of his leadership
for the 1995/1997 term.
On the sideline, the women's wing of HMI, known as Kohati,
held its own meeting which was also marked with its own problems.
Secretary of the wing's Bandung branch, Yanti, was reportedly
kidnapped on Tuesday afternoon and was locked inside a house
until early Wednesday.
Yanti, who claimed to lead pro-democracy cadres of Kohati,
said her as yet unidentified abductors threatened her not to
stand in the Kohati chairwoman election. She had been scheduled
to give a press conference on Tuesday, during which she planned
to call for autonomy for the women's wing. (swa/23)