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)