NU youths pledge to defend RI

NU youths pledge to defend RI

MAGELANG, Central Java: About 5,000 young followers in the
country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, have
grouped in a task force and pledged they were ready to defend the
country and fight Australian troops.

They were among the latest wave of protesters who have
supported the view that Australians, who make up the largest part
of the multinational force in East Timor, had no right to be
there.

The youths were members of the NU youth group, Barisan Pemuda
Ansor.

"Thousands of Ansor youth have applied to join forces and are
ready to be deployed any time (to East Timor). We're just waiting
for further command from the central chief of Ansor," Dulchori
Arif, head of Ansor in Magelang, said.

Anti-Australian protests also continued here on Tuesday as a
group of students under the Indonesian National Students Movement
(GMNI) staged speeches in front of Australia's trade
representative in Semarang. (har/edt)