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."