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)