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.