Violence mars Islamic student congress

Violence mars Islamic student congress

SURABAYA, East Java (JP): Only one day after it decided to
present a "democratic fighter" award to Megawati Soekarnoputri,
and a "scapegoat" award for an acquitted murder suspect, a
student organization resorted to violence to settle their dispute
yesterday.

Participants of the Indonesian Islamic University Students
Movement (PMII) congress were involved in a brawl yesterday
following dissatisfaction over poor services, including the late
distribution of handouts by the congress committee.

Some of the participants threw chairs at committee members and
their supporters, and tried to beat them. Their targets, however,
resisted.

"The committee members acted like bureaucrats in their
treatment of us while the security guards (also students)
overacted," said Benny Ramdhani, the Manado branch chairman.

PMII, affiliated with the 30 million-strong member Moslem
organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), began its 12th congress Monday
to elect a new chairman.

The congress was opened by State Minister of Youth Affairs and
Sports Hayono Isman.

It decided Monday to present a PMII award to Megawati, the
ousted chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) for
her tireless struggle to promote democracy.

It was also decided to present an award to Dwi Sumaji alias
Iwik, the sole suspect in the highly publicized murder of
journalist Fuad Muhammad Syarifuddin who was acquitted by the
Bantul District Court in Yogyakarta Thursday. The students
described Iwik as a scapegoat, and said efforts to frame him were
masterminded by a "certain irresponsible group".

The students were involved in heated debate following a
controversial proposal from the East Java branch.

"We propose to change the name from the Indonesian Islamic
University Students Movement to the Indonesian Independent
University Students Association," branch chairman Imam Nahrowi
said.

Imam argued the change was needed to emphasize its independent
status, an argument flatly rejected by the majority of
participants.

In response to participants' complaints, chairman Muhaimin
Iskandar said: "It is merely a technical matter. We are still
printing out materials and we are rather late in delivering
them".

Muhaimin escaped from the congress venue after his opponents
threatened to kill him. (nur/prb)