Gus Dur to take part in summit

Gus Dur to take part in summit

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid confirmed on Friday
that he would take part in a meeting of political leaders in
Yogyakarta next week.

People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais, meanwhile,
continued his campaign to have the summit expanded to involve a
more representative group of leaders, warning of problems ahead
for the country unless leaders from outside Java were invited.

Meanwhile, there was no official word from Vice President
Megawati Soekarnoputri as of Friday night about whether she would
attend the summit on Tuesday, which came about at the initiative
of Yogyakarta's Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.

The fourth leader invited to the summit, House of
Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung, has said he would go to
Yogyakarta, but he too has proposed the meeting be expanded.

Abdurrahman set no preconditions on his participation in the
meeting. "It's up to the host. I've been invited so I will go,"
he said during a dialog following Friday prayer at Yashin Mosque
in Cibubur, East Jakarta. "Whether the others will go or not is
none of my business. It's the concern of the host."

The summit will be the first such gathering since the leaders
were elected to their respective posts in October.

Abdurrahman, Megawati, Amien Rais and the Sultan were not in
the government when they held their historic meeting in November
1998. The Ciganjur meeting, named after Abdurrahman's residence
where the summit took place, provided impetus to the student-led
reform movement.

The Yogyakarta summit comes after a plan for a similar summit
at a five-star hotel in Jakarta failed to materialize this month
because some of the invited participants refused to attend.

Political analysts say a show of unity among the country's top
political leaders in Yogyakarta ahead of the Aug. 7 annual
meeting of the Assembly could reduce political tension,
particularly between the President and his critics in the
Assembly.

Amien warned on Wednesday that unless Abdurrahman made some
changes, his presidency could end within three months. Amien,
however, has ruled out using the Assembly meeting in August to
impeach the President.

Besides their government positions, the four leaders invited
to the summit also represent some of the country's largest
political parties: Abdurrahman the National Awakening Party
(PKB), Megawati the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), Amien the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Akbar
represents Golkar Party.

Amien said on Friday problems could emerge unless the
Yogyakarta summit included leaders from outside Java, including
Aceh and Kalimantan.

Speaking in Makassar, South Sulawesi, he said he respected the
Sultan's decision to limit the number of participants to only
four, plus himself as the host. "But I don't think that the four
of us can decide the fate of such a big nation. Other leaders
should be invited."

Amien said including leaders from outside Java was imperative,
although he did not say which leaders he believed should be
invited to the summit.

Abdurrahman, Megawati and Amien are Javanese, and Akbar is
from North Sumatra but he has spent most of his life in Java.

Opinions, meanwhile, were divided about the significance of
the Yogyakarta summit to the country's political situation.

A.A. Baramuli, the former chairman of the Supreme Advisory
Council and a respected figure in his home province of South
Sulawesi, was dismissive, saying the summit would not solve any
of the problems faced by Indonesia.

"The four are just individuals. They are not the real strength
of the nation," Baramuli said.

"That (meeting) will be Java-oriented," he said after meeting
with Amien Rais and former minister of trade and industry Yusuf
Kalla at Makassar's Hasanuddin Airport.

In Yogyakarta, legislator Dimyati Hartono of PDI Perjuangan
said the gathering could cool down the political temperature
ahead of the Assembly meeting.

"I'm certain that the five want to create a peaceful
situation," he said. "The fact that it is a private meeting is
not a problem as long as they announce the results afterward."

Daniel Sparingga of Airlangga University in Surabaya said the
meeting would help eliminate psychological barriers separating
the political leaders.

Speaking in the Central Java city of Semarang, Daniel warned
against placing too high expectations on the summit. "People were
disappointed when their meeting failed to take place," he said,
referring to the aborted Jakarta gathering.

He warned that the Yogyakarta meeting could fail given the
enmity that exists between the leaders, particularly between
Megawati and Amien. "Everybody knows that Megawati and Amien Rais
have difficulties sitting together." (27/har/swa/prb/sur)