Soeharto, Gus Dur's meeting hailed

Soeharto, Gus Dur's meeting hailed

PROBOLINGGO (JP): Political observers have welcomed the warmth
of the first encounter between President Soeharto and Abdurrahman
Wahid since the latter was re-elected chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama
(NU) Moslem organization in 1994.

"This should end the speculation that had been growing over
the past two years as to the nature of the relationship between
President Soeharto and Abdurrahman," Amien Rais, a political
observer at Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, told The Jakarta
Post over the phone yesterday.

"It's a display of wisdom. The way I see it, the psychological
wall, if there is one, separating the two all these years has now
been torn down," said Amien who is chairman of the 28-million
strong Muhammadiyah Moslem organization.

"It should end the mystery surrounding the relationship
between the two," said Arbi Sanit of the University of Indonesia.
He described the encounter as "the ultimate symbol of the
intimacy that Moslems enjoy with the government."

The meeting of the two leaders took place on Saturday when
Soeharto opened a meeting of Rabithah Ma'ahid Islamiyah, an
association of NU boarding schools in Probolinggo, East Java,
about 100 kilometers west of Situbondo, where religious tension
erupted into violence on Oct. 10.

Abdurrahman, affectionately known as Gus Dur, greeted
Soeharto in front of about 1,500 NU ulemas from all over
Indonesia.

The two shook hands warmly. Soeharto then greeted the other
ulemas before suddenly approaching Abdurrahman again. The two
then walked hand in hand for some 30 meters from the gate toward
the place where the opening ceremony was to be held.

"Holding hands is nothing extraordinary. He knows I can't see
very well. He knows my condition," said Abdurrahman, who wears
thick glasses with a strength of 13, and has cataracts.

After the ceremony, Abdurrahman told reporters that Soeharto's
attendance proved the end of tension between his organization and
the government, or between him and Soeharto.

"President Soeharto's presence here should prove that the
tension is now over," he said, but did not elaborate.

He denied that communication between the organization and the
government had been "frozen". "That's just an impression," he
said. "All this time, the messages from NU leaders reached Pak
Harto, while the President's messages have also always reached
us.

"I have always followed his wishes. We respect one another,"
he said.

Also on Saturday, Soeharto met with 25 other senior ulemas of
NU. When asked whether the meeting had any political
significance, Abdurrahman said: "No."

Abdurrahman has not been granted an audience at the
presidential palace, a tradition for newly elected or re-elected
leaders of major organizations, since he was re-elected NU
chairman in Dec. 1994. There had been speculation then that the
government disliked Abdurrahman, who is known for his sharp
criticism of many government policies.

Abdurrahman himself has often downplayed the fact that he had
not been invited to the palace to meet Soeharto.

On Saturday, Abdurrahman declined when asked whether such a
meeting was now forthcoming. "That would be too late. It's been
too long since I was re-elected. I think Pak Harto's speech was a
good sign already," he said.

Soeharto was on Saturday accompanied by Minister/State
Secretary Moerdiono and Minister of Religious Affairs Tarmizi
Taher.

At the end of the opening ceremony, chairman of NU law-making
body Syuriyah K.H. Ilyas Ruchiyat led the assembled in a prayer
that Allah give President Soeharto the physical and spiritual
strength to lead the nation "today and in the future".

The ulemas greeted the prayer with loud applause. (15/26)

Habibie -- Page 2