President Abdurrahman calls on public not to overreact

President Abdurrahman calls on public not to overreact

SEMARANG, Central Java (JP): President Abdurrahman Wahid
called on the public on Friday not to overreact to news reports,
claiming that these reports were sometimes inaccurate.

"The consequences of reacting too fast could be serious,"
Abdurrahman said after a packed Friday prayers in the Central
Java capital of Semarang.

Abdurrahman was on a one-day visit here to attend a discussion
on reform held by the Rectors Forum.

The President on Friday was referring to reactions to his
comments that two retired army generals were named in a police
report on the Christmas eve bombings across the country last
month that killed at least 18 people.

Abdurrahman told the U.S. magazine Newsweek recently that
Prabowo Subianto, former commander of the Army's Special Forces,
and R. Hartono, former army chief of staff and information
minister under former president Soeharto, had both been named in
the police report.

Prabowo has denied accusations he was behind the bomb attacks
while Hartono said he would report Abdurrahman to the police for
"slander."

Presidential Spokesman Wimar Witoelar said earlier this week,
however, that there were never any accusations made by the
President against the two individuals.

Wimar said that the President was only commenting on reports
suggesting the involvement of the two.

Wimar also said Abdurrahman told the magazine that Prabowo was
disturbed by the alleged police report.

"I received a message from Prabowo ... he was very disturbed
by the police report ....If that was the case, the report must be
validated and the police will have to investigate it," Wimar
quoted Abdurrahman as saying.

Abdurrahman claimed on Friday that Hartono had conveyed his
apologies through "a friend of the President" for planning to
file a lawsuit against the President.

"Hartono called up a close friend of mine saying that he
wanted to apologize to his brother," Abdurrahman said.

Media

Earlier on Thursday, the President during a meeting with the
Indonesian Association of Private Radio Broadcasters (PRSSNI)
also warned the electronic media against provoking the wrath of
his Muslim supporters.

"He expressed his hope that in their mission, radio and
television (stations) would not wake a sleeping tiger. He meant
Banser," said Gilang Iskandar, an executive of PRSSNI.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Abdurrahman at
Merdeka Palace, Gilang was referring to the uniformed arm of
Ansor Youth, the youth wing of the country's largest Muslim
organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)

NU claims to have around 40 million members and supporters. It
was led by Abdurrahman for about 15 years until he was elected
president in October 1999.

To allay fears of bloodshed, Abdurrahman and other NU leaders
told Banser and NU members not to mass in Jakarta on Monday, the
day of a rumored massive anti-government protest.

Some 2,500 anti-government protesters -- some calling for the
President to answer charges of corruption and others insisting
that he step down -- turned up at the House of Representatives on
Wednesday. while some 300,000 Banser members staged
demonstrations in support of Abdurrahman in cities across East
Java, the NU stronghold.

Abdurrahman, Gilang said, had also called on radio and
television networks not to distort the facts.

"So, air the facts, just what is there, and do not distort
them," Abdurrahman was quoted by Gilang as having told executives
of the association.

"What we have digested from his statements is that we should
restrain ourselves in these troubled times," Gilang said.

He said that Abdurrahman told him that unlike in the past,
especially during the authoritarian rule of former president
Soeharto, the press, and not the government, was responsible for
what was aired. (byg/har)