Ansor elects new chairman

JAKARTA (JP): Ansor, a youth organization under Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has elected a new chairman who is regarded as more neutral than his predecessor Slamet Effendy Yusuf.

M. Iqbal Assegaf, considered a dark horse among the contenders for the post, was elected on the closing day of Ansor's congress in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Thursday.

In the last round of the election, the chairman of the Indonesian Moslem Student Movement between 1988 and 1991 polled a total of 105 votes, beating Choirul Anam who collected 90 votes and Mujib Rahmat who got 40 votes.

The six million strong Ansor has been estranged from NU in recent years chiefly because of personal differences between Slamet and NU chairman Abdurrahman Wahid.

Slamet has been a member of the central executive board of Golkar, the ruling political group, and he campaigned vehemently, albeit unsuccessfully, to unseat Abdurrahman at the NU election last December.

Abdurrahman has tried to steer NU on a neutral path in the face of pressures from Golkar, the United Development Party and the Indonesian Development Party to solicit the support of its 35 million members in the run up to the 1997 election.

At the just concluded Ansor congress, Abdurrahman and Slamet set aside their differences when they appeared together in a seminar, with Abdurrahman as the invited speaker and Slamet acting as the moderator.

In the seminar, Abdurrahman acknowledged that all the political organizations are trying to court NU and its members ahead of the general election.

He explained that while NU as an organization will stay neutral, its members are free to support or join any of the political organizations of their choice.

Iqbal, who is a veterinarian by training, said after his inauguration speech that one of the first things he will do as chairman is visit the regions to consolidate the organization. (emb).