Intellectual body forms new branch

JAKARTA (JP): Around 50 intellectuals established the Jakarta branch of the Association of Intellectuals for Pancasila Development (PCPP) yesterday, featuring a series of powerful names as advisors.

Chairman of the BP7 agency for the propagation of Pancasila state ideology R. Soeprapto, business tycoon Soekamdani Sahid Gitosardjono, legislator and businessman A.A. Baramuli, bureaucrat Payaman Simanjuntak, and senior journalist Samsul Bahri will join the 30-member board of advisors.

The branch will be chaired by Mohammad Bambang Sulistomo, son of the late freedom fighter Bung Tomo. Bambang will be assisted by two deputies, Bambang Diponegoro and Eddy Sjafuan, and six other persons. The branch currently has 45 members.

In a press conference yesterday, PCPP Jakarta announced the rationale for its establishment and a pledge to "be independent from any socio-political interest groupings".

"Intellectuals will always maintain a harmonious partnership with the power holders," Eddy read from the organization's statement.

"In the intellectual view, power is a mandate of the people, and should be dedicated to the interests of the people and the nation," he said. "Intellectuals should be responsible since their thoughts and ideas can cause social and political impacts on the nation's life."

Bambang said the birth of the organization is "a historical necessity" and that the community should open its arms and not condemn its existence too hastily.

Bambang and his deputies used the media briefing yesterday to convince reporters that there was no political power behind the birth of the PCPP and to announce that it has yet to designate the chairman of its national board.

"The first PCPP congress will define what we mean by 'intellectuals' and we believe that intellectuals can be found anywhere, including from among government officials," he said.

He dismissed suggestions that the organization should refrain from electing a senior government official, possibly a cabinet minister, as chairman to prove its political independence.

"Let's just respect any individual's right (to be elected chairman)," Bambang said.

The activists also attempted to allay speculations that PCPP was established to check the growing power and influence of the Indonesian Association of Moslem Intellectuals (ICMI).

As for whether PCPP will be "used" by the power holders to further their interests, Bambang said the members would do their best to avoid political entanglements, though they will not prevent members from assuming political positions in other institutions.

"Any citizen has the right to enter politics, but we, intellectuals, are more concerned with how to uphold justice, truth, and maintain national unity," Bambang said.

"Any organization of intellectuals will naturally draw attention. If anyone is interested in joining us, by all means," he said. "We will not prohibit politics, but we'll try not to be involved in political games which can disturb the running of power (in the country)."

The founders of the organization will hold a pre-congress meeting next month in Purwokerto, Central Java. The congress proper will be held in November in Yogyakarta.

The founders had earlier mentioned Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo as one of their first choices for chairman to give the new organization national stature. Siswono said he would decline if the job were offered to him.

Other possible candidates include Gen. (ret.) Edi Sudradjat, the Minister of Defense and Security, and Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, the State Minister of Environment and former secretary-general of the ruling Golkar.

The organization has been without a chairman since it was established in July by a group of intellectuals from Jenderal Sudirman University in Purwokerto, Central Java.

The PCPP's inception is widely seen as a challenge to existing organizations of intellectuals, whose memberships are based on religion.

The most prominent of these established groups is ICMI, which is headed by State Minister of Research and Technology B.J. Habibie. The other three major intellectual groups are the Christian PIKI, the Buddhist KCBI and the Catholic ISKI. (swe)