Moslem group pulls out of youth comittee

SURABAYA, East Java (JP): The East Java chapter of the Ansor Youth Movement has pulled out of the Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI) because it says the committee has strayed from its original mission.

The chairman of the Ansor East Java branch, Choirul Anam, said Monday the committee had failed to accommodate various aspirations of member groups and had even been exploited by certain figures for personal gain.

He said the decision to discontinue the branch's association with the committee was in line with an official statement issued by Imron Hamzah, head of the East Java branch of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Moslem organization, that suggested groups affiliated with NU withdraw their KNPI membership.

Ansor is affiliated with NU, one of the country's largest Moslem organizations with at least 30 million members.

Ansor is the second youth group that has pulled out from KNPI. The first, the Indonesian Nationalist University Student Movement (GMNI), exited the committee following the election of its chairman and council members in a regional session in December.

East Java Governor Basofi Soedirman has yet to officially accept newly-installed KNPI board members. Instead, he has asked the committee to review its board's formation. (nur/09)