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)