NU ambivalent about mass rally

JAKARTA (JP): Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) officials refused on Friday to take a position on the possibility of its members flooding the capital in support of President Abdurrahman Wahid in the coming special session of the People's Consultative Assembly, saying they would neither send nor deter them.

The chairman of NU's East Java branch, Ali Maschan Moesa, maintained that NU would not mobilize its followers to go to the capital, but neither was it in a position to prevent them should they desire to show their support for the President.

"NU will never support unrest, but the Assembly should listen to the people's voices and if they continue to pursue the special session, which is unconstitutional, the people themselves may dissolve the Assembly," Ali told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

He underlined that people have a right to show their discontent toward the Assembly.

"We will try to calm the people, but you have to remember that Abdurrahman's supporters are not just NU followers," Ali asserted.

Abdurrahman led NU, the largest Muslim organization in the country, for one-and-a-half decades before he was elected president in 1999.

The specter of a mass flood of Abdurrahman's supporters continues to be a possibility, with some fearing that the concentration of large crowds could incite unrest.

Meanwhile, Ansor chairman Saifullah Yusuf said that all Ansor members should stay in their respective areas and help the public maintain security ahead of and after the Assembly special session.

"They have to leave political problems to their leaders and stay in their respective areas. I will prevent them from flooding the capital," Saifullah told the Post on Friday.

Ansor is the youth wing of NU.

He further remarked that Ansor will not organize any kind of mass mobilization ahead of the Assembly special session and urged all members to cooperate with other organizations to keep the country peaceful. (dja)