ICMI accepts resignation from Amien

JAKARTA (JP): Critical Moslem scholar Amien Rais relinquished his leading position within the influential Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI) yesterday, vowing to continue to speak out against injustices and for democratization.

A plenary meeting led by organization chairman B.J. Habibie decided yesterday to "accept" Amien's resignation as chairman of the association's Council of Experts, and to make him a member of the Board of Advisors under noted ulema Ali Yafie.

The decision came on the heels of widespread speculation that Amien was forced to resign because of his critical stance on several government policies.

"I'll continue to speak out against injustices and maintain my concern for democratization," said Amien, who is chairman of the 28-million-strong Muhammadiyah Moslem organization and a politics lecturer at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

"You should remember that I was the one who raised the issue of the national leadership succession in 1993 when most political experts and leaders were still sleeping," he said.

At a press conference after a plenary meeting of the central executive board yesterday, Habibie said: "ICMI can understand and accept Amien Rais' resignation from his current position as chairman of ICMI's Council of Experts."

Habibie said Amien had requested to resign from his post last year, citing his heavy workload at Muhammadiyah which had made it difficult for him to function effectively at ICMI.

Habibie said Amien had told him that he wished to resign in order to make the association work more efficiently and be more productive.

Habibie said the association would decide on Amien's replacement at another plenary meeting. However, he said last week it was likely that Fuad Bawazier, a member of the association's board of advisors and Director General for Taxes, would take Amien's place.

"It's natural the replacement will also come from Muhammadiyah," Habibie said, pointing out that the association comprises representatives of Moslem groups in proportionate numbers.

"It's been deliberated and decided so," said Habibie, who was accompanied by political observer Afan Gaffar, another member of the Council of Experts.

Habibie dismissed suggestions that the association had sought the blessing of its patron, President Soeharto, for a new chairman of the council.

Soeharto, who is patron of the association in a personal capacity, reportedly leaves decisions on such matters to the association.

Free

Amien, who spoke separately from Habibie's press conference, told reporters he had been unable to make the Council of Experts be more active because he had to tend to his duties at Muhammadiyah and at the university.

"I am glad that I am now free from such a leading but time- consuming position," he said.

He said that leaving his post on the Council of Experts would not mean he was abandoning ICMI altogether.

"I'm still a member of the association and I will still sit on its board of advisors as a member," he said.

He strove to dismiss speculation of political motives being behind his transfer to a lower position.

"I just don't want to ruin the increasingly dynamic activities of ICMI because of my incapacity to manage my time for ICMI, for Muhammadiyah and for the university," he said.

Habibie dismissed speculation that Amien was made to resign because of his critical remarks over the activities of the giant American mining company PT Freeport Indonesia in Irian Jaya or the planned foreign investment in the Busang gold mining project in East Kalimantan.

"Pak Amien himself had explained (his position) and he had said that whatever remarks he made in the past were based on his good intentions. All of us at ICMI can understand the situation well," he said. The criticism that Amien launched, he said, was "not an issue at all."

In one of his articles, Amien called the disproportionately small profit Indonesia receives from Freeport's massive mining operations as "unconstitutional." However, on a more recent occasion, he thanked Freeport when it was declared the top taxpayer of 1996.

Habibie said the Council of Experts was also losing another member as Yahya Muhaimin, a colleague of Amien at the university and fellow leader of Muhammadiyah, will soon leave for a diplomatic post at the Indonesian embassy in Washington D.C.

Yahya, a military analyst, will still work for the association by organizing its activities in North America. (imn/aan)