NU members concerned with DPR probe: Hasyim
SURABAYA (JP): Hasyim Musadi, chairman of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), said here on Sunday that the recent actions of some NU members were "their own way of responding" to actions by the House of Representative's (DPR).
Speaking during a break of the one-day seminar in Sidoardjo on Violent Politics and Political Violence organized by the NU's youth wing, GP Ansor, Hasyim said that "things depend on DPR. If DPR plays with fire, we cannot stop them (NU members) from responding in their own way".
Hasyim did not explain what he meant by playing with fire, but NU members have become very uneasy with DPR's attitude toward President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid over the Bulog and Brunei scandals.
"If DPR deploys people to stage an anti-Abdurrahman rally, NU members will do the same to show their commitment to the right way to live in a democratic country."
He said, however, that NU members had never been officially involved in street rallies in Jakarta. "If they (NU members) did not represent the institution, legally we could do nothing against them. There is no difference between them and other people (who rally)."
Lately, groups of anti-Abdurrahman protesters and supporters have rallied frequently at the DPR building.
Security officers have been forced to work hard to avoid "collisions" between the two rival groups.
Abdurrahman Wahid led NU for 15 years before being elected President in 1999.
In the town of Kudus, some 30 kilometers northeast of the Central Java capital of Semarang, about 6,000 people demonstrated their support for Gus Dur and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Saturday afternoon.
Riding in trucks, cars, motorcycles and even bicycles, the demonstrators criticized the House of Representatives' special committees probing the Bulog and Brunei scandals, saying that the committee and some other politicians were plotting to undermine Gus Dur.
The demonstrators, including elderly people and teenagers, demanded that the House's special committees be dissolved and the result of voting conducted by the special committee be annulled.
The rally coordinator, Sisdiyanto said that Golkar, the ruling party during Soeharto's 32-year reign, had made everything in the country complicated. "Golkar is the mastermind behind the country's problems."
Another rally supporting Gus Dur was staged by a group of 2,000 santri (students of Islamic boarding schools) in Pekalongan.
The santri, escorted by some 200 kyai (ulemas), sat quietly on the grounds of the local legislature's office and prayed for the safety of Gus Dur and Megawati.
Meanwhile in the city of Solo, some 65 kilometers west of Yogyakarta, at least 2,000 members of Banser, NU's paramilitary group, marched in the streets pledging their faith in Gus Dur.
They criticized the DPR's special committees investigating the Bulog and Brunei scandals, waving posters saying "Don't Offer Us a Revolution".
AT the same time some 3,000 students from various universities staged a demonstration on Saturday demanding that Gus Dur quit for his failure to meet the reform agenda.
These anti-Abdurrahman demonstrators carried banners that said, among other things, "Mr. President, Open Your Heart, Please", They marched down the main thoroughfare, Jl. Slamet Riyadi, without incident. (nur/har/sur)