Moslem students told to help prevent unrest

JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto called on Moslem students yesterday to help prevent social unrest and not let their hearts rule their heads.

"I expect you to continue to maintain a clear thinking process and exercise restraint in facing any problems in society," Soeharto told a 50th-anniversary celebration of the Indonesian Moslem Students Association (HMI).

Soeharto said that developing a multifaceted society such as Indonesia, which is the world's largest Moslem nation, was not an easy task.

"We have to be good at developing patience, maintaining clarity of thought and not be easily drawn into matters that are emotional in nature," Soeharto said.

The country's development had created an imbalance between those who had been able to profit from the advances and those who had been left behind, he said.

"This reality should not be covered up but should also not been overblown to provoke unrest," Soeharto said.

What was important, he said, was that efforts were being made to address the imbalance.

The anniversary celebration was also attended by State Minister of Public Housing Akbar Tanjung and Minister of Finance Mar'ie Muhammad. Both are former members of the association.

Indonesia has been rocked by ethnic and religious unrest in recent months that has claimed scores of lives and caused widespread damage.

Analysts say that social disparity has been at the root of the unrest that has degenerated into ethnic and religious violence. A series of disturbances in Java since October has targeted ethnic Chinese and non-Moslems, while unrest in East Timor have targeted migrant Moslems.

Protracted violence in West Kalimantan took place from late December until February between indigenous Dayaks, who are mostly Catholics, and the migrant Madurese from East Java who are mostly Moslems.

No official death toll has been released but the army said at one stage that 300 people had been killed. More than 9,000 people, mostly Madurese, are still living in shelters provided by the military after the Dayaks attacked and burned down their homes.

Some 87 percent of Indonesia's 200 million people are Moslem.

During the commemoration yesterday, President Soeharto also presented an achievement award to the late Lafran Pane, a co- founder of the association. His son, Mohammad Iqbal Pane, accepted the honor on his father's behalf.

The association's chairman, Taufik Hidayat, declared in his speech that the organization would stick to its original mission, namely providing Moslem students with an independent student organization. The association, therefore, would not affiliate itself to any political organization, he said.

"We need to clarify this in reply to criticism that HMI is too close to the bureaucracy. For HMI ... politics is not forbidden. It is noble if it is based on ethics and if it aims to uphold truth and justice," he said.

"HMI will always support the government in its search for truth and justice. However, it will also stand in the forefront of efforts to oppose corrupt and deviant officials," he said. (swe)