NU ready to hold mass prayer

JAKARTA (JP): Preparations for the mass prayer in Bung Karno sports complex in Senayan, Central Jakarta, were almost complete on Saturday while green carpets had been rolled out to cover an area in the eastern parking lot that could hold 50,000 people.

Nahdlatul Ulama, which is organizing the event, said that the number of participants would be 150,000, down from 400,000 as earlier predicted. Those who do not have official IDs for the event would be seated outside the carpeted area.

A member of the organizing committee, Endang Sobirin, admitted that there would be less participants than predicted.

"This is due to the call made by Gus Dur (President Wahid) though the Defense Minister that it is not necessary for NU supporters to throng Jakarta," he was quoted by Antara as saying.

The event is scheduled to take place on Sunday morning, one day ahead of the House of Representatives' Plenary Session that will decide President Abdurrahman Wahid's fate.

The President is expected to join the mass prayer at 8 a.m.

Commissioner Aqil, who is in charge of security and order in the sports complex, said more than 24,000 armed officers from the mobile brigade and the Jakarta Military would be deployed.

In a related development, the leader of a hardliner group Darul Islam's "One Million (Muslim) Adherents" Action Front, met NU executives on Saturday.

Al Chaidar, chairman of the front, said they had been invited to join the mass prayer.

"But it will be difficult for me to ask the Darul Islam's leaders and warlords to come. Hopefully they will come or at least give me the permit to attend it," he said.

However, he said, the organization would stick to their initial plan to hold a rally at the National Monument Park (Monas) on Tuesday.

"I can guarantee the May 1 rally will run safely," he affirmed.

He said they would force Gus Dur, House's speaker Akbar Tandjung and the People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais to attend the event.

"If they continue to refuse, we will consider them our enemies," he warned.

Chaidar boasted that more than 30,000 former Mujahiddin warriors assigned in Afghanistan, Moro island and the Malukus, had earlier confirmed their eagerness to slay some 400 members of the political elite considered to have degraded Islam and the Muslims.

"Their (the warriors') work is like the simultaneous bombing in 18 cities (on Christmas' Eve last December) and the assault of National Awakening Party's chairman Matori Abdul Djalil," he said, referring to two criminal cases that remain a mystery.

He said some of the warriors were now in Jakarta.

"However, we succeeded in cooling them down and to have transformed their earlier plan to one of non-violence," he said.

There had been some concerns over the possible conflicts between members of the hard-line group and NU members.

NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi said Darul Islam initially felt provoked by the arrival of the dare-to-die force, which they thought was NU's subsidiary.

"But things have been settled," he said.

Commenting on the disbandment of the dare-to-die force, Hasyim said NU would not be responsible for any violence which may take place later.

Leader of the force, Nuril Arifin, said earlier in the day that he had disbanded his troops following NU's request.

Separately, students grouped in the Indonesian Students Executive Board (BEMSI), said they would not take to the streets in the city on the eve of the House of Representatives' Plenary Session on Monday.

Andre Rosiade, chairman of the Student Executive Board of Trisakti University, said he had coordinated with student activists from other universities and academies in Jakarta and other cities in Java and Sumatra not to take to the streets to avoid possible clashes with Gus Dur's supporters.

Separately, dozens of human rights activists staged an antiviolence demonstration at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, calling on all sides to maintain peace and order in the city.

Meanwhile, at least 35,000 NU members from Indonesia's East Java province -- where the President gains most support -- arrived in Jakarta on Saturday aboard trains and other land transportation.

NU members from the provinces of West Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta are reportedly on their way to Jakarta.

From Malang, 750 people arrived at the Senen train station on Saturday morning. Head of the group, Imron Rosadi, said each of them had to pay a total of Rp 150,000 for transportation and meals.

Most NU members from East Java are reportedly planning to return home at 4 p.m. on Sunday at the latest, although some are planning to leave on Monday and Tuesday.

An NU activist from Lampung, Muhammad Habib, said that at least 5,000 NU members had left for Jakarta despite the fact that NU leaders in the province had issued a ban for its members to come to Jakarta. He argued they came to the capital as individuals, not as NU members. He also said that more would flock the capital if the House issued the second memorandum.

From Yogyakarta, Police chief Brig. Gen. Saleh Saaf said the provincial branch of NU sent a total 1,600 of its members and supporters, not 5,000 as previously announced, to attend the Sunday mass prayer. (bby/02/23/rms)