Emha rejects comfy seat in the House, vows to help PPP

Emha rejects comfy seat in the House, vows to help PPP

SEMARANG (JP): Well-known intellectual Emha Ainun Nadjib said
yesterday he has turned down the United Development Party's (PPP)
offer of a cozy seat in the House of Representatives.

He said his main reason is that he feels politics is not his
arena and he is afraid it would kill his independence as an
intellectual if he participated in it.

"But I will help develop the PPP in my own way, for instance
by campaigning for it," he told The Jakarta Post.

The Yogyakarta-based playwright, poet and columnist was also
approached by the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) under
Megawati Soekarnoputri. She was deposed in June by rebel leader
Soerjadi, who has government backing.

Emha's critical stand on various sociopolitical issues have in
the past prompted security authorities to ban him from performing
his plays or reciting his poems in several cities.

He said one reason behind his rejection of PPP's offer is that
he did not want the Moslem-oriented PPP get in trouble with the
government just because of his presence.

"Let me bear the consequences of my deed, which I believe is
correct," he said.

The three political organizations, PPP, PDI and Golkar, will
compete for 425 seats in the House of Representatives in next
year's election. They submitted their list of legislative
candidates to the National Election Institute on Monday.

Emha argued that entering politics is not one of his
priorities because Indonesia has yet to change its political
format into one which is more democratic.

"PPP, Golkar and PDI are part of a whole scenario that I don't
like," he said. He added that helping PPP is part of his "moral
obligation".

"It's like when I help an ill-fated child, I should not
consider whether his father has bad or good conduct because
helping is a moral obligation," he said.

Meanwhile, Mustofa Bisri, a popular Moslem preacher from the
Central Java town of Rembang, also refused PPP's offer for a seat
in the House because he does not want to be screened by the
military for any possible past involvement with the outlawed
Indonesian Communist Party.

"Why should I undergo screening? I am an instructor in
Pancasila propagation and a member of the House of
Representatives," the preacher said.

He said he wants to quit politics and focus on his religious
duties and have more time to write poems and paint. (har/pan)