Confusion muddles Amien's U.S. visit

JAKARTA (JP): Confusion reigned yesterday over whether Moslem leader Amien Rais is going to address a hearing of a United States congressional subcommittee on Indonesia's human rights record after all.

He may instead be given the opportunity to hold a media conference on Capitol Hill, Washington, Antara reported Saturday.

"I received a telephone call from a congressman at about 9 a.m. (Saturday), saying that I may not address the hearing of the Congress' International Operations and Human Rights subcommittee as earlier planned," said the chairman of the 28-million-strong Muhammadiyah Moslem organization.

However, a separate Antara report from New York yesterday said that not only was Amien going to testify before Congress, he was also scheduled to meet former U.S. president Jimmy Carter in Atlanta.

The news agency said it learned from the National Council of Churches in the United States (NCC) on Saturday that Amien was slated to meet the Congress committee on Wednesday and Carter on Saturday.

On April 30, Amien will meet the media in Washington, and on May 1 leave for Atlanta to meet Carter -- a renowned leading human rights activist -- the report continued.

Amien left for New York Saturday evening with J.M. Pattiassina of the Communion of Indonesian Churches and S.A.E. Nababan, who is a moderator of the World Council of Churches. Amien is scheduled to be in Washington tomorrow.

The congressman, whom Amien did not name, did not tell him the grounds for canceling the hearing. "Perhaps the timing is not appropriate," Amien said, but did not elaborate.

He speculated there were certain parties who did not want him to appear before Congress and give testimony about several inter- religious conflicts in Indonesia, for which he was invited by the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.

"I have an invitation in (writing) that I am wanted to testify before a U.S. Congress subcommittee on April 28," he said.

The council of churches is reportedly opposing a bill proposed by Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia and Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, that would impose economic sanctions on Indonesia for its allegedly poor rights record.

Amien declined to disclose the speech he was originally supposed to deliver, but said that some formal and nonformal institutions, including several non-governmental organizations, had provided him with valuable information to support his stance over the rights situation in Indonesia.

He was planning to use this information to make comparisons with information the U.S. government has at present.

The NCC feels that the testimony from the Indonesian delegation will be of crucial importance as Congress will soon issue a freedom from religious persecution act, Antara reported. (imn)