Muhammadiyah looks to establish party

SEMARANG (JP): Amien Rais, chairman of the Muhammadiyah Moslem organization, has said he will ask his deputy, Syafii Maarif, to head a political party after it was evident that there was an enormous desire from members of the organization to establish one.

Amien said after closing a leadership meeting here late Tuesday that the creation of a new political party would be discussed further at the organization's plenary meeting in Jakarta next week.

"If it is established, I will assign deputy chairman Syafii Maarif to be the chairman of this new political party," Amien remarked.

Amien asserted that he would remain leader of the organization until the next Muhammadiyah congress in 2000.

However he expressed his readiness to be nominated as president by the new political party.

Amien, who was at the forefront of the reform movement which led to former president Soeharto's resignation in May, also said that the party would be open and democratic.

Syafii himself was aloof when asked about his name being mentioned to head the new party. He maintained that Amien's support for him was individual in nature and not on behalf of the organization.

"We'd better wait until this new political party is established," Syafii said.

Muhammadiyah was established by noted Moslem leader Ahmad Dahlan in November 1912.

A senior member of Muhammadiyah's central executive board, Lukman Harun, said last week that the organization was not going to become a political party.

He said that since 1971, the organization has given up any intention of becoming a political party. He said that the group would stick to its current social mission.

Similar questions have been posed to the leaders of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Moslem social organization. Some NU leaders have said they are considering setting up a party. (har/byg)