KAMMI wants Gus Dur to be impeached

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The United Front of Indonesian Muslim Students (KAMMI) ended its second national congress on Friday with a recommendation that the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) hold a special session to ask for the President's accountability.

The congress, which had its official closing ceremony late Thursday night, also recommended that the national education budget be raised.

Soon after the congress ended, the KAMMI activists took to the streets, marching from the venue of the congress at Wisma LPP Demangan to the Gadjah Mada roundabout, covering a distance of two kilometers.

Waving banners and posters, the students also urged a quick settlement of the sectarian clashes in Maluku.

"The rally is intended to socialize the result of the congress," said KAMMI spokesman Nur Hidayanto.

KAMMI's reasoning for requesting the impeachment of President Abdurrahman Wahid was that he had derailed the reform process, they said.

"The vision of reform requires the establishment of a rational democracy in the country. However, the way Gus Dur handles his political rivals has been irrational. How then could he pioneer the establishment of rational democracy?" Nur said.

The objectives of the reform movement, which were established moments before President Soeharto was ousted in 1998, included supremacy of law, regional autonomy, the establishment of rational democracy, Soeharto's trial, eradication of corruption, collusion and nepotistic practices and the elimination of the Armed Forces' dual function.

None of the objectives has been accomplished by Gus Dur's administration, Nur claimed.

The congress, attended by some 250 KAMMI members, elected Andi Rahmat, a student of the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, as the new chairman.

Rahmat, formerly a staff member of the Strategic Study Division of KAMMI's central executive board, replaced Fitra Arsil to chair the organization for the 2000-2002 term.

The next KAMMI congress is scheduled to be held in Lampung in 2002. (swa)