Gus Dur's motive for meetings questioned
Gus Dur's motive for meetings questioned
JAKARTA (JP): Amien Rais expressed perplexity on Monday over
Abdurrahman Wahid's recent personal meetings with President B.J.
Habibie and Minister of Defense Gen. Wiranto, saying the campaign
to establish a national dialog should be conducted with others.
Amien insisted that a national dialog should involve all
interest groups, and going it alone as Abdurrahman seems to be
doing would not settle problems that created the need for
national dialog.
"I'm really sorry that I have to say that he (Abdurrahman) has
gone it alone," Amien said. He used the term 'nyelonong', a
Javanese word for a person who suddenly scampers away from his
group. "If I were him I would stick to prior agreements, though
we may have differences over certain matters," he said.
Amien, who chairs the National Mandate Party (PAN), and
Abdurrahman, the leader of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Islamic
organization, belonged to what is known as the Ciganjur Group. It
originated from a renowned meeting at Abdurrahman's house in
Ciganjur, South Jakarta, between four reformist figures: Amien,
Abdurrahman, Megawati Soekarnoputri of the splintered Indonesian
Democratic Party, and Yogyakarta monarch Sri Sultan
Hamengkubuwono X.
Abdurrahman, also known fondly as Gus Dur, met with Wiranto
last Wednesday and Habibie last Saturday to discuss various
problems troubling Indonesia. The meetings were believed to be a
follow-up of Abdurrahman's call for a national dialog to head off
the threat of social revolution.
Amien said the two meetings could be considered silaturrahmi
(gatherings of good friends). He said the closed sessions could
not be seen as a national dialog. "We cannot say that a meeting
between a few people is a national dialog," he said.
"I hope that both meetings were called upon Gus Dur's personal
initiative, (that he was acting) not on behalf of the signatories
of the Ciganjur declaration," he said.
The Ciganjur meeting issued a five-point declaration and eight
calls to the government. One point in the leaders' declaration
says the Armed Forces' sociopolitical role should be phased out
within six years at the latest.
The leaders called for a fair and just general election
monitored by an independent team to be held next year.
They also called for the fight against corruption, collusion
and nepotism to be intensified, with Amien at this point adding
that the drive should begin with an investigation into the wealth
of former president Soeharto, his family and his cronies.
Describing the state's problems as an acute and dangerous
disease, Amien said only a national dialog could function as
surgery to cure the condition.
"The national dialog, involving all parties of interest, must
be held in a transparent manner and be open to the press," he
said.
Amien also called on students not to relent in pressuring the
government to eliminate corruption, collusion and nepotism,
beginning with an investigation into Soeharto, his family and his
friends.
"If the student actions stop, the pro-status quo supporters
will make a terrifying comeback," he warned. (imn)