Hamzah repeats calls to stop rallies

Hamzah repeats calls to stop rallies

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Vice President Hamzah Haz repeated calls on Monday to stop the
anti-U.S. rallies in the country and underlined that Indonesia
may face an economic collapse should the country fail to
guarantee foreign investors' security.

"I am pleading once again for the rallies to stop. As Vice
President and being from a Muslim-based party, I understand the
feelings of Muslims, but it concerns me when a rally turns
violent," Hamzah said during the opening ceremony of an Islamic
conference here.

"If this rally continues, we are going to face more economic
hardship. If we can't get out of this economic crisis, we will
all collapse," Hamzah said.

After encouraging anti-U.S. demonstrations and giving Muslims
the green light to go to Afghanistan to wage a jihad, Hamzah has
been demanding Muslims over the past few days to stop their
rallies.

"Our economy needs to recover. The gap between the rich and
the poor is widening. There have been mass layoffs, the current
unemployment figure has increased to 38 million people, we have
become a poorer country," he said.

"This continuing action (rallies) will hurt the image of Islam
and we should show the world that we have a peaceful way to
uphold the truth," Hamzah said.

He contended that the government had taken into account the
interests of Muslims in the country, and President Megawati
Soekarnoputri had conveyed a message to the United States to
consider Muslims' voices in the Afghan crisis.

Megawati, in an apparent move to appease Muslims angry at the
civilian casualties in Afghanistan, indirectly criticized the
attacks, saying that no government had the right to attack
another or seek to erase blood with blood.

Megawati's strong statement had apparently dissatisfied the
United States. Megawati failed to seek a meeting with U.S.
President George W. Bush during an Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shanghai, China, over the weekend.

After the summit, Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda
surprised the United States again, when he called on the latter
to end the strikes in Afghanistan before the Muslim holy month of
Ramadhan, which begins in mid-November. Otherwise, he warned, it
would ignite an explosive reaction in the Muslim world.

Upon arrival from Shanghai, Hassan said in Jakarta that
Indonesia would maintain its stance on wanting to see the attacks
end before the fasting month.

"We expressed our concern to a number of foreign ministers
during the APEC meeting that prolonged attacks would further
create destabilization among many Muslim countries, such as
Indonesia and Malaysia, and will finally hurt the global
coalition against terrorism," Hassan said.

Hassan added that he also conveyed Indonesia's concerns to
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during their meeting.

"I see signs that a solution for the situation in Afghanistan
is shifting to a political and diplomatic means," Hassan said.

When asked what would be the next stance of Indonesia should
the U.S. continue attacking Afghanistan during Ramadhan, Hassan
said: "It is still in three weeks time, let's wait and see."