Palace flag to be replaced to remove 'Soeharto voodoo'

JAKARTA (JP): A senior member of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Muslim organization said on Tuesday that the red-and-white flag at the State Palace is going to be replaced to remove the "black spirit" of former president Soeharto.

Ali Maschan Moesa, leader of the organization's East Java chapter, was quoted in the provincial capital of Surabaya by Antara as saying that, based on "the premonition from the Wali Songo", the flag is believed to have been the source of all the troubles surrounding President Abdurrahman Wahid.

Wali Songo were the nine charismatic religious teachers who together were largely responsible for the dissemination of Islam throughout Java.

"The flag must be thrown away and replaced with the new one," Ali said referring to the duplicate of the original red and white flag that was used during the declaration of the country's independence in August 1945.

"At the moment, the new flag is still being introduced to several senior clerics and in August we are not going to use Pak Harto's flag anymore," Ali was quoted as saying.

He also said that "according to the Wali Songo", speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly Amien Rais, who is known to be one of Abdurrahman's harshest critics, was not "much of a threat" and that he was not "as dangerous as" Soeharto.

The U.S. Time weekly magazine wrote in its July 3 edition that a dukun (soothsayer) close to Abdurrahman warned that the spirit of the "big man" (Soeharto) was standing in the doorway when the President mounted the steps of the State Palace minutes after he was elected.

The dukun then insisted on carrying out a prayer ritual before the First Family could enter the building.(byg)