Security volunteers vow no mobilization on Oct. 20

JAKARTA (JP): Executives of the many security volunteer groups and task forces from several organizations have vowed not to mobilize their personnel ahead of the Oct. 20 presidential election day.

On the other hand, students have temporarily been divided about their plans for election day.

Interviewed separately by The Jakarta Post on Tuesday, the groups' leaders of the task forces also insisted that there would be no increase in the number of personnel who are already deployed at certain spots in the capital.

"Based on the instructions of our leader, Al-Habib Muhammad Rizieq, none of us, personnel of the Islamic Defenders Soldiers, are allowed to go to the streets in any form and for any reason," Badrussalam, a senior member of the group, said.

"There are no exceptions," he added.

According to him, Rizieq, chairman of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI), has also instructed the thousands of FPI "soldiers" to just "wait and see."

Endang Shabirin of the Anshor's Youth Movement (GP-Anshor) which supervises the Nadhlatul Ulama Banser security volunteers group said that his organization strongly believed that mobilizing its members on the streets would only spark clashes with other presidential candidate's supporters.

"Our initial commitment is only to safeguard the General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly without giving favors to any presidential candidates," Endang, GP-Anshor's deputy secretary-general, said.

According to Endang, Banser personnel would be deployed on the streets only under the order of the Nadhlatul Ulama board of executives, or a request from the Jakarta Police.

Nadhlatul Ulama is one of the largest Muslim organizations in the country.

Endang said some 30,000 to 40,000 Banser NU personnel are ready to be mobilized at any time.

"At the moment, we have 3,000 Banser personnel on the streets," he said at GP-Anshor's headquarters in Central Jakarta.

Attired in their respective uniforms, scores of security volunteers from different organizations have been seen congregating at several spots in the capital, including areas located near the Assembly.

But their numbers have been slightly reduced in the past few days. Some personnel said several of them, wearing plain clothes, are still being placed at important places, such as the business and shopping centers in the Glodok Chinatown area in West Jakarta and around the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, a popular place now for many protesters.

"The city police recently asked all groups of security volunteers to help safeguard several religious sites and popular markets in the city," Endang of GP-Anshor said.

Many Jakarta residents are worried that the presence of the estimated tens of thousands of personnel from security volunteer groups and task forces, some of which usually equip themselves with knives, machetes and other weapons, will only ignite clashes with similar "military-like" groups from other organizations.

Richard Tulis, a commander of a 500-member task force battalion of the Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) deployed at Hotel Indonesia, said his party has instructed them not to take part in any rallies staged by supporters of PDI Perjuangan chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri, one of the strong presidential candidates.

"Our task is safeguarding the Assembly's General Session and to prevent our PDI Perjuangan legislators from engaging in money- politics practices," he said.

Richard also said that there would no addition to the number of PDI Perjuangan task force personnel next week.

"We won't add to the number of our task force personnel in the city ahead of the presidential election," he said.

PDI Perjuangan claimed last week they had 15,000 uniformed task force personnel and 10,000 plainclothes members.

Meanwhile, the Muslim' Unity Front (Buistu), an organization which strongly supports president B.J. Habibie, promised not to take to the streets.

"Our personnel are limited," coordinator for Buistu's Tangerang chapter Tubagus Abdul Basid said, referring to its 2,000 members.

Separately on Tuesday, an executive at the University of Indonesia's Student Executive Body (BEM UI) said the university's students would only send delegations to convey messages to the legislators, instead of conducting protests on the streets during the day of the presidential election.

"Such a protest will only spark violence on the streets. Moreover, tension has gripped the city streets for days as so many presidential candidate supporters have taken to the streets to push forward their candidates to become the country's new president," Arie Wibowo, BEM UI secretary general, said.

Activist Mixil from the City Forum (Forkot), however, confirmed that his group would stage a protest on Thursday and a day before the election day.

"The Thursday protest is to reject Habibie's accountability speech, while the one on Oct. 19 is designed to reject Habibie's reelection," Mixil said.

He said Forkot has yet to decide whether to stage another protest on Oct. 20. (asa/bsr)