Banser ready to fight Soeharto followers

SURABAYA (JP): Leading figures of Banser civilian security guards said on Tuesday they were ready to fight followers of former president Soeharto.

Banser is under Nahdlatul Ulama's Muslim youth organization (Ansor).

Mohammad Rofik, leader of the organization's East Java branch, said that 150,000 Banser members in the province were now on alert.

"We are waiting for further instructions from the NU head office," Rofik said.

The statement came in the wake of President Abdurrahman Wahid's statement last week that Banser members just "slept all day" while people were busy mobilizing pro-Soeharto rallies".

Rallies in support of Soeharto, who is currently being tried for graft, have been staged on Jakarta streets and have occasionally ended up in fierce street battles with student protesters.

Some, including top government officials, have expressed belief that the recent spate of bomb attacks and ethnic violence in the country were instigated by supporters of Soeharto to destabilize the government.

Some also believe the violence was carried out in retaliation to the government's crusade to bring the former ruler to trial.

A deadly bomb blast in the basement parking lot of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) building last Wednesday occurred on the eve of the second hearing of Soeharto's trial.

Abdurrahman, who chaired the NU for 15 years before becoming president last October, said last week that the students were not alone in their campaign for justice. He seemed to be implying that Banser should stand by the students.

In Magelang, Central Java, on Monday, local Ansor leader Dulohori Arief said he was ready to mobilize NU members to face "New Order hard-liners".

"Banser is ready to safeguard Soeharto's graft trial and we support the students in their campaign for supremacy of the law," Dulohori said. (nur/har)