Govt tries to ease fears of 'unrest'

Govt tries to ease fears of 'unrest'

JAKARTA (JP): The government on Friday tried to calm fears of
possible unrest on Monday, with President Abdurrahman Wahid
himself saying that there was nothing to worry about.

Responding to a question during a dialog with the public after
the Friday prayers, Abdurrahman said he had asked the Nahdlatul
Ulama (NU) banser civilian guards, especially those in East Java
not to come to Jakarta to rally for him.

The President even took it one step further saying that he was
also calling on the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-
P)'s security task force members not to mobilize the masses.

"To banser and PDI-P's task force, I am telling you there is
no need to come to Jakarta because everything is under control,"
the President said.

"So you see, there's really nothing to worry about," he said
reassuring the questioner.

However, Abdurrahman conceded that the government had
established a security coordination team under National Police
chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro.

Fears have heightened in the capital of a possible influx of
pro and anti-Abdurrahman Wahid supporters on Monday as this is
the date scheduled by a House of Representatives special
commission to question the President on his possible involvement
in the Bulog and Brunei scandals.

However palace officials announced recently that Abdurrahman
will be in Singapore on Monday.

Earlier on Friday morning, top government officials also
briefed and assured foreign envoys that Jakarta is safe and that
they should not worry about mass rallies.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security
Affairs Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono accompanied by
Minister of Defense Mahfud MD, Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi
Shihab and Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman
briefed around 80 ambassadors, on Friday, on the situation in the
capital.

"We informed the envoys that rumors about possible riots in
the capital are not true. There is a possibility of a mass
concentration on Jan. 15, but we have anticipated that," Susilo
told journalists after the meeting.

Susilo maintained that mass rallies were part of democracy,
which the country is learning to grasp.

"We are not holding this meeting because we expect the
condition in the capital to worsen," Susilo said.

During the meeting, the Jakarta police also explained
technical procedures if tensions rise and said that some 40,000
security officers would be deployed in the capital on Monday.

Separately deputy secretary-general of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
Masduki Baidlawi on Friday expressed fears that there are people
impersonating as NU's civilian guards in two cities outside
Jakarta.

"However we can't reveal more about these impostors or name
the cities," Masduki told reporters at NU's head office here,
adding that the aim of these impostors was to infiltrate the NU's
civilian guards and create chaos.

"Several garment companies in those cities are tailoring
banser uniforms in huge numbers," Masduki claimed, adding that NU
gives a uniform to each recruited civilian guard and thus the
number of uniforms made corresponds to the number of banser
members.

"We have yet to conduct any recruitment recently, so who are
these uniforms for?," Masduki remarked.

Deployment

Despite calls from the President himself, the chairman of the
East Java branch of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Choirul
Anam, revealed in Surabaya on Friday that around 100,000 banser
members from the province had begun to leave for Jakarta "to
prevent Gus Dur (the President's nickname) from being rocked by
his opponents."

"Many of them left their hown towns early last month. They are
not in their uniforms. Many of them have already been in Jakarta
for weeks to attend the congress of the Indonesian Islamic
Students Movement (PMII) scheduled for Jan. 15," Choirul said.

"Everything depends on the planned mass mobilization of anti-
Gus Dur groups."

Meanwhile in Yogyakarta, the central executive board of Gadjah
Mada University, Alumnis (Kagama), called on sociopolitical
organizations not to hold mass rallies.

Koento Wibisono, Kagama chairman, told journalists on Friday
that political struggles should be carried out through non-
violent means.

"We also want the society to realize that mass rallies will
only create chaos. It will only generate problems, not solve
them," said Koento.

Separately, another alumni Riswandha Imawan, who is a
political observer, said mass mobilization would not be effective
in reaching political goals as the general public would reject
such means.

"Therefore if the groups insist on such means, it would become
a negative campaign," he said.

He added that Monday was only the start of the House's
session, so major agendas, such as the scandal investigations,
would only be deliberated on weeks later.

Thus any mass rally would be pointless, Riswandha remarked.

"Any mass mobilization will not be effective at all. It will
only be counterproductive," he said. (nur/swa/sur/dja/02)