Anti-Zionist task force to go ahead

Anti-Zionist task force to go ahead

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Committee for World Moslem
Solidarity (KISDI) has started recruiting students and interested
Moslems to join an anti-Zionist task force.

Deputy chairman Ahmad Sumargono said yesterday the task force
is expected to begin after the May 29 general elections.

"We are recruiting Moslem youths from university campuses.
However, it's premature for us to start working now. We'll wait
until after the election," he told The Jakarta Post.

The committee has organized massive demonstrations for the
Palestinian cause in the past.

Last Sunday, KISDI organized a prayer gathering at the Al-
Azhar Grand Mosque attended by 5,000 people chanting condemnation
against Israel. The Moslem leaders and youths pledged to fight
Zionist influence in Indonesia.

The gathering was attended by influential Moslem leaders
including Amien Rais of the 28 million-strong Muhammadiyah Moslem
organization, and Palestinian ambassador Ribhi Awad.

The planned task force is meant to detect and campaign against
any social elements deemed to be influenced by Zionism.

Sumargono said the task force plans to train its members so
they can educate the public about "Zionism and Israeli's
imperialism".

"It is important for the members to read literature on
Zionism, on Israel and on the Palestinian cause, because in the
future the force's members will serve as our weapons to counter
the Zionist movement in Indonesia," he said.

The committee will invite lecturers, experts and government
officials to speak on Zionism.

"The force will basically fight any influence of Zionism,
including in films or writings. We may also send our members to
the Middle East to see and learn about what's happening there,"
he said.

He added the committee would support any other religious
groups cooperating in the campaign against Zionism here.

"But this task force is for the Moslem community only," he
said.

Founded in Jakarta in 1987 by the late Mohammad Natsir, a
former Indonesian prime minister who was also a prominent Moslem
leader, KISDI's initial aim was to show support for the
Palestinians' intifadhah (uprising) movement against Israel.

Its other initial goal was to weave a network of support for
the largely Moslem Afghanistan which was fighting the Soviet
Union at the time.

The organization is currently led by K.H. Abdul Rasyid
Abdullah Syafi'ie, an unassuming scholar who manages the
Assyafiiyah Moslem Foundation which has 63 schools and
universities.

In 1994, the group demonstrated its power by opening
registration for Moslems who wished to volunteer for a "holy
war", fighting in the war-torn Bosnia Herzegovina. Nearly 20,000
Moslems from all over Indonesia registered. (12)