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)