Fuad wins KAHMI chairmanship

Fuad wins KAHMI chairmanship

JAKARTA: Former finance minister Fuad Bawazier was elected as
the Islamic Student Association Alumni Family (KAHMI) chairman at
the conclusion of the organization's extraordinary congress in
Yogyakarta on Tuesday.

Fuad, who served during the last term of former president
Soeharto in 1998, won 169 of 209 votes to beat 12 other
candidates, who included former Army Strategic Reserves Command
(Kostrad) chief of staff chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Kivlan Zein and
Tamsil Linrung, a National Mandate Party (PAN) activist who was
arrested along with two other Indonesian nationals in Manila over
illegal possession of explosives early this year.

Tamsil said the victory for Fuad, a PAN legislator at the
People's Consultative Assembly, was expected.

The congress was challenged by the National Assembly Presidium
of KAHMI and the HMI Alumni Forum.

Activists from the HMI Yogyakarta and Central Java chapters
staged a rally to protest the congress, which they said would
split the association and pave the way for its affiliation to a
certain political grouping.

Of 188 regional chapters across 30 provinces, 156 supported
the congress, making it legitimate according to the
organization's statutes. -- Antara