PKB tells Gus Dur to publicly declare his wealth

PKB tells Gus Dur to publicly declare his wealth

JAKARTA (JP): Amidst growing accusations of corruption and
collusion within the government, the National Awakening Party
(PKB) urged party founder President Abdurrahman Wahid to set an
example and publicly document his finances.

"The President should be the first one to announce his
financial status. It could be followed by the House of
Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung doing so too," PKB
secretary-general Muhaimin Iskandar said on Thursday.

Muhaimin, who is also the House deputy speaker, said various
accusations of corruption, collusion and nepotism allegedly
conducted by the president's inner circle should be clarified
since it could hurt the party's image.

Muhaimin also revealed that his colleagues, Syaifullah Yusuf,
chairman of Ansor Youth Movement, a youth wing of Nahdlatul
Ulama, and Choirul Anam, PKB's East Java chapter chairman, would
file a lawsuit against Tempo magazine due to its report on graft
by those linked to the president and the party.

Meanwhile the secretary of PKB's faction at the House, Abdul
Cholik Achmad, said the party has set up a clarification team to
deal with the alleged graft charge against the President and his
aids.

Cool

Separately in Bandung, Noted Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid
said the president should not have been overly upset by
allegations of collusion, corruption and nepotistic.

"Everybody, including a president, must take such allegations
in a cool manner," Nurcholish told journalists after attending an
professorship inauguration at Padjadjaran University.

Eradication of KKN practices had become the strongest theme of
the reform movement, he said.

"Therefore, issues regarding KKN must be openly discussed, and
the press plays its role as a medium to build public discourse.
Therefore the press must get its freedom."

But Nurcholish also warned critics that the President is also
a citizen who has the right to be protected from slander.

"He (the President) has the right to ask for evidence on the
(press) allegations. I suggested that he take legal steps to deal
with that."

Much of the speculation surrounding Abdurrahman is due to the
fact that he led NU for 15 years, and many new officials are NU
figures or those who are his close associates and relatives.

The president was particularly upset by an erroneous report by
Surabay-based Jawa Pos daily, despite its having already
acknowledged the error.

The president also failed to denounce intimidation by NU
bansers on the daily and even accused it of being part of a
conspiracy to unseat him.

"Gus Dur was also wrong when he seemed to support Banser
guards who occupied the Jawa Pos editorial office. He (Gus Dur)
should have found fault with such an old style approach. What
would happen if the occupation was conducted by the government?"
Nurcholish remarked.

"Whatever the problem is, the legal approach should be the
answer," he said, citing that many cases such as genocide to
thousands of Jews by Nazi Germany also ended up going to court.

Coup

Nurcholish, popularly known as Cak (brother) Nur, also
censured any talk of a possible impeachment or even coup d'etat
against the president.

"Those two things will bring about a bad precedence to
Indonesian democracy. Once those two things take place, they will
take place again and again in the future," he said.

Impeachment issues, in particular, have been aired in recent
months especially with the planned general session of the
People's Consultative Assembly coming up in August.

Nurcholish strongly defended Abdurrahman's leadership saying
that he was a central figure in the establishment of a foundation
for the country's democracy.

Nurcholish also warned that impeaching a president would be
time consuming. "Let's deal with the problems based on the
constitutions, laws and their conventions."

"Having a President like Gus Dur for five years is much better
then suffering for decades due to the disruption of the
democratic process. If he (Gus Dur) did something unacceptable,
just don't vote for him next time," he said.

Separately political scientist Arbi Sanit urged the public,
including political parties and organizations to avoid efforts to
topple Abdurrahman.

"The country would become even worse with whoever replaced
Abdurrahman as president," Arbi said in a seminar here on
Thursday.

However, he suggested that the public work together to improve
the work of State Institutions, such as the Supreme Court and the
House of Representatives which in the last six months has only
succeeded in endorsing the State Guideline (GBHN). (25/jun/sur)