Gus Dur warns of 'national rebellion'

JAKARTA (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid warned on Thursday of a "nationwide rebellion" against the House of Representatives (DPR) if its attempts to oust him continue.

Speaking at a seminar on the country's future, Abdurrahman added that the DPR's attempt to impeach him was "legally impossible".

"You can see that there will be a nationwide rebellion against the way the legislature is currently doing its work," Abdurrahman announced to the audience of a seminar organized by the firm, Van Zorge Heffernan Political Economic Consultancy.

Speaking in English, the President repeated his old argument that, according to the 1945 Constitution, a president could not be held accountable by the DPR.

"The legislature and MPR (People's Consultative Assembly) now want a legislative Cabinet ... which is legally impossible because according to the 1945 Constitution, the government should be presidential," Abdurrahman said.

"It should remain as such except in the case of treason against the state."

Abdurrahman said the Constitution stipulates that, under the presidential system, he should only be held accountable by the MPR at the end of his term in 2004.

"So, in this respect, the second memorandum (of censure) is something that is legally unnecessary and wrong," he said.

The motion to oust Abdurrahman has prompted thousands of his loyal supporters from East Java to set up ready-to-die forces to defend the President.

Abdurrahman again defended his supporters saying that their actions were understandable "as the legislature has been irresponsible to the point that it is trying to remove the President."

He claimed that up to "400,000 people from all over Java, Lampung and Sumatra" would stream into Jakarta later this month and were ready to defend him if the DPR didn't back down from demands for impeachment.

Abdurrahman also quoted a Christian activist, Soritua Nababan, from the Batak Protestant Congregation (HKBP) as telling him: "If you feel it necessary then you can call us and hundreds of thousands of our members will come to Jakarta".

The President's supporters are expected to flood Jakarta on April 29, one day before the DPR plans to convene a plenary session to decide whether to pass a second censure motion against Abdurrahman.

The supporters will join a mass prayer (istighotsah) organized by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) at Gelora Bung Karno sports complex in Central Jakarta.

With the likely prospect of violence, Abdurrahman said that he was still open to negotiation and that he should be "humble ... so that the political process will not go in such a way that could make the whole nation fall apart."

"The basis of my policy is that we have to negotiate, but the negotiation should not violate the Constitution," Abdurrahman said.

He was apparently referring to his statement earlier that he hoped to meet with Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, House Speaker Akbar Tandjung and Assembly Speaker Amien Rais to seek ways to end the political stalemate.

Akbar has said that the power-sharing formula between the President and Megawati should top the agenda of the planned meeting. Speaking to reporters on his visit to the town of Purwokerto, Central Java, on Thursday, the Speaker of the House renewed his proposal, saying it was a compromise worth seeking to salvage the country.

Abdurrahman argued that he has already set his own terms saying that the dialog should at least include security, law enforcement and the economic crisis.

Abdurrahman's threat of national rebellion came as his confidant, Foreign Minister Alwi Shihab, said later in the day that representatives of five major political parties would meet this weekend to set the date for the "summit" dialog.

Speaking to reporters after meeting Abdurrahman at Bina Graha office, Alwi said "senior officials" from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, Golkar Party, National Mandate Party, United Development Party and National Awakening Party would meet on Saturday at an unnamed Jakarta hotel to hammer out details of the planned dialog.

Meanwhile, a rival Islamic group, the Muslim Brotherhood, led by cleric Hussein Al Habsyi, again on Thursday voiced opposition to NU's planned rally and threatened to confront Abdurrahman's supporters if police and the military failed to prevent them from running riot.

In a statement, released after their meeting, the ulemas, from Jakarta, Tangerang, Bogor and Bekasi, said the planned mass prayers on April 29 had no legal basis according to Islamic law and was politically motivated.

"In order to get closer to Allah (God), it's better for us to pray every day at places where Muslims propagate Islamic values, such as mosques, Islamic boarding schools and Islamic schools, so that prayers could be conducted solemnly," Rachmat Sarmili read out in a joint statement.

Habsyi said NU's mass prayer was an attempt to manipulate religious values for political goals, and therefore had to be called off.

"Mass prayers held in a yard is unknown in hadits (Prophet Muhammad's deeds and sayings). It's just an abuse of religious values for political interest that will fool people," he said. (45/byg)