Students, parties' task forces gear up for MPR session

Students, parties' task forces gear up for MPR session

By Novan Iman Santosa

JAKARTA (JP): Several groups and student organizations in the
capital have been organizing themselves, for better or worse,
ahead of next month's General Session of the People's
Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Interviewed separately on Tuesday by The Jakarta Post, leaders
of some of the groups vowed that they would take part in
safeguarding the session, while some others stated that they
would hit the streets of Jakarta to give vent to their dislike
for the ruling government.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan),
for example, will deploy some 1,000 members of the party's task
force to help the city's security authorities in safeguarding the
session.

"The 1,000 members can be deployed at anytime, anywhere. They
are the core members of PDI Perjuangan's task force," chief of
the Jakarta chapter of the party's task force, Maringan
Pangaribuan, said.

"The number of task force members can reach up to 15,000 in
total. We will deploy them especially in areas near the party's
offices," he added.

Maringan, who is also a city councillor, emphasized that the
deployment of his members would always be coordinated with the
related security authorities.

"We'll have a meeting with city police officers to discuss
operational matters for the upcoming General Session," he said.

According to him, the task force members of PDI Perjuangan,
currently led by Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri, would be
stationed at several police stations to support police officers
in maintaining public order during the August General Session.

Maringan said that PDI Pejuangan would not be the only
political party which would deploy their security force members
next month. Other parties would also dispatch their task force
members for the same reason, he said but refused to name the
parties.

The deployment of numerous task forces affiliated to certain
political parties started with the June 1999 general election.

Banser

Separately, chairman of the Jakarta chapter of the Ansor Youth
Movement, Sanusi Abubakar, took a different position, saying that
his organization would only deploy its Banser (multipurpose)
members if it was really essential to do so.

"We haven't discussed the matter yet. We don't have any plans
to deploy our Banser members," he said.

"There has been no approach to us from the security
authorities asking us to deploy our members. The important thing
is we are ready whenever public safety (in the capital) is
threatened," he added.

Ansor is the youth wing of Nahdlatul Ulema, the largest Muslim
organization in the country, which President Abdurrahman chaired
for 15 years.

On Sunday, a field commander of Banser, Hari Sumbi, told a
local paper that his group has prepared 2,300 of its Jakarta
personnel to help police in facing "undisciplined elements" that
intend to disrupt the MPR session.

"They (the undisciplined elements) are under the command of
certain political elites, who are not satisfied (with the current
situation)," Hari said,

But Sanusi denied Hari's statements, saying that Hari had no
right to make such remarks and that Ansor has no such plans so
far.

"We will only deploy our members to protect the public
interest and in conjunction with the security forces," Sanusi
said.

FPI

Similarly, an executive of the Defenders of Islam Front (FPI)
Reza Pahlevi said the front would only deploy its members in a
worst case scenario where the police and military were no longer
able to control the situation.

"We are ready to safeguard the general session but not by
deploying our members. It will only cause problems," he said.

"Let the officers take care of security problems. Should the
police be unable to control the situation, there is still the
military," he added.

Reza also said the front would closely monitor the security
situation to decide whether it was necessary to deploy its
members or not. He emphasized that the FPI wanted the general
session to succeed.

"Let the security authorities do their duty and let our
representatives 'play around' during the session," he said.

"But we will only deploy our members should a crisis develop,
involving actions such as looting and arson. We don't want
another tragedy to take place in Jakarta," he said, adding that
the front currently has some 30,000 members in the Greater
Jakarta area alone.

A more strident stance was being taken by university students,
saying they were ready to hit the streets although refusing to
give detailed explanations.

Chairman of the Association of Inter-Campus Muslim Students
(HAMMAS) Muhammad Fajar said their agenda was to ask President
Abdurrahman Wahid to resign from office.

"We're preparing our members mentally and spiritually to ask
the President to resign," he said.

"But we won't name any candidate to replace him. It's just a
discourse for our representatives," he added, while saying the
President didn't have the capability to solve the nation's
problems.

Separately, Mariole of City Forum (Forkot) said it has yet to
make any plans as most universities are on vacation during the
general session. But he insisted that the forum would still
organize some action.

"We have to undertake internal consolidation first with our
members. Most of them are on vacation until September," he said.