Informal meeting of top political leaders delayed

Informal meeting of top political leaders delayed

JAKARTA (JP): The planned meeting of the country's top
political leaders was delayed for an indefinite period on
Wednesday, with President Abdurrahman Wahid expressing his lack
of awareness.

Abdurrahman's close confidant and foreign minister Alwi Shihab
said the informal meeting was postponed after People's
Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais, who was among the
invitees to the gathering, opted out due to a reported illness.

Apart from Abdurrahman and Amien, Vice President Megawati
Soekarnoputri and House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung
were expected to attend the meeting, scheduled to be held at the
Crown Plaza Hotel on Jl. Gatot Subroto near the Semanggi
cloverleaf bridge.

Akbar was originally named the host of Wednesday's event, the
follow-up to a previous meeting between Abdurrahman, Akbar and
Amien at the same hotel last Thursday.

Commenting on the second meeting, Abdurrahman simply said he
was reluctant to attend due to disagreement in political vision
among the top leaders. "All are Muslims but differ in political
interests. That's why we cannot come together," Abdurrahman said
while attending the issuing of a declaration by the Indonesian
Conference for Religion and Peace (KAPI) at Wisma Antara in
Central Jakarta. (byg)