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Southeast Asia

Black magic has not hurt Indonesian president's chances

2009-07-07

Political rivals have accused him of being a neo-liberal and a ditherer, but Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has emerged as the favourite ahead of today's Indonesian presidential poll. The former general and incumbent is widely tipped to be re-elected in the first round of voting when as many as 176 million Indonesian voters cast their ballots. It has been a campaign largely devoid of penetrating discussion of the many pressing issues facing Indonesia. Even so, there have been moments of colour and drama, including an intriguing claim on Friday by President Yudhoyono that black magic spells had been cast against him and his campaign team. "Many are practising black magic. Indeed, I and my family can feel it," he was quoted as saying by Antara, the official Indonesian news agency. "It's extraordinary. Many kinds of methods are used. I have come to the conclusion that only prayers can defeat black magic attacks. For instance, last night I kept praying all the way to the venue of the [candidates'] debate along with my wife, aides and driver." The comments caused a stir amid accusations Dr Yudhoyono was being "irrational". However, the belief in supernatural spirits remains deeply entrenched in Indonesia, notwithstanding that most of its population are adherents of Islam. There has also been an alleged dirty tricks campaign to portray the wife of Dr Yudhoyono's running mate, Boediono, falsely, as a Catholic. It remains unclear whether this so-called black operation was launched by supporters of Dr Yudhoyono and attributed by them to the rival party Golkar, or actually carried out by cadres of Golkar. Either way, Golkar's candidate, Jusuf Kalla, has run an extensive advertising campaign featuring his wife - and the spouse of his running mate, the former general Wiranto - proudly wearing the traditional Islamic headscarf. The wives of Dr Yudhoyono and Mr Boediono do not wear the scarf, known here as the jilbab. Dr Yudhoyono's other rival, the former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, has run on a populist, nationalist platform of rapid economic expansion and largesse for poor villagers, without actually saying how she would generate the promised 10 per cent GDP growth or pay for the handouts. She and her running mate, Prabowo Subianto (another former general), have regularly labelled Dr Yudhoyono a pro-foreigner "neo-liberal" who has created an "errand boy" economy for Indonesia. The President, meanwhile, has campaigned on his record of bringing economic stability to Indonesia, crushing terrorism at the same time as attacking the country's endemic culture of corruption. Dr Yudhoyono's imposing lead has, in part, driven many loud complaints from his opponents about deep flaws in the election commission's list of registered voters. But a decision on Monday by the Constitutional Court to allow people to vote if they show a valid identification card has taken the heat out of accusations of a rigged poll.

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Southeast Asia

Indonesians Vote

2009-04-09

April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, votes for a new parliament today with pre-election surveys showing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s Democrat party likely to win the highest percentage of seats. More than 171 million voters have five hours to cast their ballots to elect legislators at the national and regional levels in polling stations spread across the world’s largest archipelago. Polls opened at 7 a.m. local time and close at noon. “This nation doesn’t want to lose momentum” in developing its democracy, said Josef Krisnadi, a senior fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Jakarta. “The preparations weren’t perfect, but it’ll still be a legitimate election.” This is the third election since the fall of former President Suharto, who was forced out of office in 1998 after ruling the country for 32 years. All 560 seats in the more- important lower house of parliament are up for grabs in today’s election, as well as 132 seats in the upper house. Thirty-eight parties are fielding more than 11,000 candidates. Yudhoyono’s Democrat party was favored by 26.6 percent of respondents in an April poll taken by the Indonesian Survey Institute. The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, led by former President Megawati Soekarnoputri, was second in the survey with 14.5 percent, while Vice President Jusuf Kalla’s Golkar party was chosen by 13.7 percent.

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Southeast Asia

Indonesia: Parties eye new coalition for 2009 presidential race

2008-08-27

(AKI/Jakarta Post) - Indonesia's two biggest political parties are reviving attempts to establish a coalition for the 2009 presidential race. They could pose a serious threat to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Vice-President Jusuf Kalla's chances of re-election on a joint ticket. Key figures from the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) held a rare meeting in Jakarta on Monday to explore the possibility of temporarily linking forces - the third such meeting in the past two years. PDI-P chief patron Taufik Kiemas led the party's delegation in the meeting with Golkar's national and regional boards of patrons in Ancol, North Jakarta. Among other PDI-P key figures in attendance were party secretary-general Pramono Anung and deputy chairman Panda Nababan. On the sidelines of the meeting, they held closed talks Golkar heavyweights led by Kalla (Photo) who is party chairman. Kalla was accompanied by Golkar chief patron Surya Paloh, House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono and deputy party chairman Theo Sambuaga. Yudhoyono was invited to the meeting as chief patron of his Democratic Party, but declined to attend. He instead received Swaziland King Mswasti III at the State Palace and later in the evening attended a closed meeting with his own party's board of patrons. Taufik, the husband of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, stressed the need for his party and Golkar to form a coalition for the presidential race before the legislative elections in April next year. "We have to start it now, because it will be difficult to form a coalition after the (legislative) election," he was quoted as saying by Antara. Surya Paloh welcomed Taufik's request, saying Golkar needed a strategic alliance with PDI-P. Theo Sambuaga said the meeting had brought the two parties a step closer to forming a coalition. "It is not an ordinary gathering. This is a meeting of the country's two biggest parties, so we did talk about the possibility of forming a coalition. But we just think it will be better if we form a coalition after the legislative election," he told The Jakarta Post. Theo said Golkar needed to know the results of the legislative election before making a commitment to any parties. Taufik, however, said the PDI-P would announce which parties it would form a coalition with as well as a running mate for Megawati in November.

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Southeast Asia

Sydney Jones returns to Indonesia

2005-09-07

Many could not hide their surprise upon learning that the southeast Asia director of the International Crisis Group (ICG), Sidney Jones, had returned to Indonesia and spoken at the Asian-European Editors' Forum last week: There had been no prior announcement about it. The event was also attended by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who made the keynote address and personally welcomed Jones back. "I arrived about a month ago," Jones told The Jakarta Post in the midst of her hectic schedule at ICG's Jakarta office on the 14th floor of Menara Thamrin, Central Jakarta. Jones jokingly said that she had made a stealthy comeback to the country after more than a year living in "exile" in Singapore, following her deportation from Indonesia. In June 2004, Jones and her colleague, Francesca Lawe-Davies, were expelled from the country by the administration of president Megawati Soekarnoputri. The then State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief, A.M. Hendropriyono, said that the deportation was based on the grounds that Jones and her activities had tarnished the country's image by producing reports that were untrue. Prior to her deportation, Jones had written at length on the country's Islamist radical groups and the perceived threat they posed to society, as well as publishing reports on a number of communal conflicts that had plagued the country. Pundits and the media condemned the deportation, saying that it went against freedom of expression. Furthermore, ultimately, BIN itself stood to benefit from Jones' reports as they shed light on the activities of radical groups like Jemaah Islamiyah. Before her departure, Jones realized that the move to prevent her from working here had started long before the actual deportation order was issued. "When we received the order it came as a real shock because I did not believe beforehand that we would be compelled to leave. When I went to the airport, said my goodbyes and boarded a plane it was devastating," she said. Jones was concerned that, after her departure, no harm would befall local ICG staff or its property. In the event, none of the ICG local staff were harmed and they continued with their work as though nothing had happened. Following their deportation, Jones and Lawe-Davies opted to stay in Singapore where they also worked as visiting fellows at the Institute for South Asian Studies (ISEAS). From the city state, Jones continued working for ICG and managed to produce reports about a communal conflict in Mamasa, South Sulawesi, despite having no direct contact with resources in Indonesia. Lawe-Davies, for her part, wrote a report on an Islamic group in Southern Thailand. The deportation dealt a severe blow to Jones when the monstrous tsunami struck northern Sumatra in December last year. "Some people that I knew perished in the tsunami but I was helpless to do anything, even though I was close by. I just watched the tragedy unfold," she said. Friends of Jones who were lost to the tragedy included former Aceh chairman of the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) Muharram M. Nur, lawyer of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH) Syarifah and Maimul Fidar of the Coalition of Human Rights Non-governmental Organizations. Uncertainty over whether she would be able to return to Indonesia also increased Jones' sense of desperation to the point where she made a proposal to the ICG HQ in Brussels about the possibility of doing research in other countries. "I told them that maybe I could help out in Bangladesh," she said. But before a response to her proposal was made by Brussels, a decision to give Jones a green light to come back and work in Indonesia had already been taken by the government here. Jones said that she had no idea about how the decision came about; she knew only that people had been working behind the scenes to secure her return. "I'm grateful to everybody -- private citizens, government officials and members of the diplomatic community -- who worked for my return," she said. As soon as the go-ahead was granted, Jones decided on a trip to Jakarta earlier last month. The most nerve-racking part of the journey was going through passport control at Soekarno-Hatta International airport. "I held my breath as I went through. I had my visa in my hand and had no problem, just as though nothing had ever happened," she said with a chuckle. Upon entering her office, nothing much had changed: The papers she had left on her desk last year were still in exactly the same place. Jones now lives in the same apartment building she vacated over a year ago; this time, her unit is six floors lower as her old room has already been relet. Returning to Indonesia has meant a great deal for someone like Jones, who has had a deep involvement with the country for almost three decades. Soon after she had earned her degrees in oriental studies and international relations at the University of Pennsylvania, Jones was sent in 1977 by the Ford Foundation, her first employer, to Jakarta to examine Islamic education. After completing a stint with the Ford Foundation in 1980, Jones embarked on research into Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization, in Kediri, East Java, for a year. Jones later worked with Amnesty International before joining the Asia division of Human Rights Watch. She joined ICG in 2002 and started working on a project that resulted in a report titled Al-Qaeda in Southeast Asia: The Case of the Ngruki Network in Indonesia. Ngruki is the Islamic boarding school in Surakarta, Central Java, once led by cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. Now, after what she refers to as 14 months of "enforced relaxation" in Singapore, Jones says she is ready to face all the stresses that are an inevitable aspect of living in Jakarta. "Despite the traffic and pollution, I'd rather live in Jakarta than anywhere else in the world. Maybe it's because I have more friends here," she mused.

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Southeast Asia

Yudhoyono leads in Indonesian polls

2004-09-16

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a former general, may win Indonesia's presidential election on Monday on pledges to fight terrorism, cut corruption, and create jobs. Yudhoyono, who pushed President Megawati Soekarnoputri into second place in the first round of voting in July, increased his lead to about 29 percentage points, according to the latest opinion polls, published as the two candidates entered the final day of a three-day formal campaign. Yudhoyono, 55, is seen as tougher on terrorism in a country where three high-profile car bomb attacks -- the latest last week -- killed more than 220 people in two years. Megawati, 57, who brought economic stability in her three-year term, is criticized for failing to reform the legal system and stem corruption, steps needed to woo investors and create jobs for 40 million unemployed. ``Megawati has been asleep at the switch,'' said Robert Appleby, chief investment officer at ADM Capital in Hong Kong, which has $1.2 billion invested in Indonesian and other Asian debt. ``Indonesia needs a leader with a firm hand.'' In a poll by Lembaga Survey Indonesia, carried out after last week's bomb in Jakarta, Yudhoyono is leading Megawati with 61.3 percent to 32.7 percent. The survey of 1,200 respondents in 32 provinces has a 3 percent margin of error. In a survey between Sept. 2 and Sept. 9 -- the day of the bombing -- by the Washington-based International Foundation for Election Systems, Yudhoyono is leading Megawati by 61.2 percent to 29.3 percent. The poll of 2,000 respondents in 32 provinces has a 2.2 percent margin of error.

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Southeast Asia

JI stays in Indonesian terror pledge

2004-05-16

Indonesia's leading presidential candidate wants stronger counter-terror co-operation with Australia, but has refused to ban the terror group blamed for the Bali bombing. Retired four-star general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said that if elected president this year he would seek improved relations with Australia. "It's part of our foreign policy that should be strengthened," he said. Mr Yudhoyono has been the dominant Indonesian in the fight against terrorist groups in his position as top security minister in the cabinet of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, a post he quit in March to campaign for the presidency. Although he has been praised by Western governments for his work against terrorism, and has promised to continue if elected president, he stopped short of promising to outlaw Jemaah Islamiah, an affiliate of al-Qaeda. "There is a debate in our politics there. As an organisation, JI, I would say, does not exist in our list (of banned organisations) actually. But I do understand that men belonging to JI do exist in Indonesia. In our policy of combating terrorism we have to watch them," he said. "And if they are planning to commit crimes then we bring them to justice." On Friday the US ambassador to Jakarta, Ralph Boyce, called on all Indonesian presidential candidates to prepare to take a tougher line on terrorism. The Security Council listing "obliged all states to freeze the assets, prevent the entry into or the transit through their territories, and prevent the direct or indirect supply, sale and transfer of arms and military equipment" of JI and its members. But Jemaah Islamiah translates literally as "Islamic community", and banning the organisation remains a very sensitive issue in a county where 85 per cent of the population is Muslim. The issue is so delicate that police refuse even to utter the words Jemaah Islamiah when they arrest suspected members of the terrorist group. With 40 per cent support in a poll by the Japanese-funded Indonesian Survey Institute last week, Mr Yudhoyono is the leading presidential candidate, with President Megawati next at 14 per cent. Mr Yudhoyono is unofficially favoured by the Bush Administration and the Howard Government. He wants closer relations with Australia, including stepping up Indonesia's controversial military ties with Australia. While Mrs Megawati has not visited Australia in more than two years as president, Mr Yudhoyono already has plans for a visit. "As a symbol of our closeness, actually, I plan to visit Australia in due time. In the first year I have to concentrate on doing my domestic affairs before going abroad. Visiting Australia is, of course, on my agenda if I'm elected." Occasional problems in the relationship between Indonesia and Australia could, Mr Yudhoyono said, be easily overcome. "The Indonesian people are mostly apolitical. And they love their neighbours; they love their brothers and sisters. So I don't believe the people of Indonesia hate the people of Australia, Malaysia or Singapore," he said. "Yes, of course there can be problems in our political relationships but I do believe - with a spirit of friendship - they can be solved." Despite opposition in Indonesia to the US-led invasion of Iraq, Mr Yudhoyono said relations with the US were not at risk. "So far, it's going normal. Of course, what is done by the US is sometimes misunderstood by many Indonesians. As far as we keep up our principles of mutual trust and respect, then I think we could continue our good relations with the US."

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Southeast Asia

Megawati fires police chief after Bashir riot

2004-05-02

The chief of police in Indonesia’s South Sulawesi province has lost his job after President Megawati Soekarnoputri complained about police violence at protests against the arrest of militant cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. Megawati met her national police chief, General Dai Bachtiar on Saturday night after national television showed South Sulawesi police clubbing scores of madrassa talibs university students with revolvers and batons. The students had been protesting against Bashir’s arrest immediately after he was released from jail on Friday. General Bachtiar announced yesterday that Mrs Megawati had ordered him to act against the police whose officers were shown entering classrooms at the Indonesian Muslim University in Makassar to beat students, some of whom had taken a traffic policeman hostage during their demonstration. He said he had removed South Sulawesi’s police chief inspector, General Jusuf Manggabarani - who had just announced the removal of at least two of his most senior officers in an attempt to contain the fallout from the violence. About 60 students were wounded, including two who were shot. The protest is likely to strengthen opposition to the arrest of Bashir, for interrogation over terrorist offences. Megawati also issued an apology to the students. Good dhimmi.

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Southeast Asia

Spine-Tingling Competition Heats Up in Jakarta

2003-12-05

Jakarta hosts international Koran reading contest Participants from 45 countries are expected to compete in an international Koran reading contest from Saturday through until Monday next week, the first competition since the event was recently declared two-yearly. Be still, my beating heart! Spokesman for the Ministry of Religious Affairs Arifin Nurdin said on Thursday Indonesia was named the host of the inaugural biennial competition for its achievement in a number of international Koran reading contests in the past. "We have won numerous international Koran recital competitions, but have never played host to such an event, despite the fact that Indonesia is the country in the world with the largest Muslim population. Even the Philippines managed to host one," Arifin said. He said the government expected to promote Islam as a champion of peace™ through the competition, which will be held at Jakarta’s Istiqlal Grand Mosque. ’Guess they read a different Koran than the boomers "We are keen to show the world that Islam is bloodthirsty, intolerant, and homicidal warmhearted, relieving and peaceful," said Arifin, also the ringleader spokesman for the event’s organizing committee. "That's why we have to kill so few people for converting to other religions..." Minister of Religious Affairs Said Agil Husin Almunawar had said previously the international event should demonstrate that Indonesia was safe despite a series of terrorist attacks in the country over the past year. Well, if Jakarta is peaceful, then I guess we could hold a bible-reading or torah-reading competition there as well - eh Sai-id? And don't even forget the Kama Sutra readings... Arifin said 25 countries from five continents what - no asshats from Antartica? had confirmed their participation in the event, which will shave Rp 2.5 billion (US$294,000) off the state budget. All participants and delegations will stay at Borobudur Hotel in Central Jakarta, located near the Istiqlal Mosque. I guess the J.W. Marriottt is still undergoing "rennovation" Hey! Borobudur's one of the most famous Hindu temples outside of India. Shouldn't they be staying at the al-Hayatt? President Megawati Soekarnoputri is scheduled to open the event and Vice President Hamzah Haz is slated to close it. Has Hamzah taken the bag off his head yet? Participants will be divided into two gender categories "Master" and "Slave"? plus an English translation category. Indonesia will be represented by winners of this year’s national Koran reading competition. The chairman of the event’s organizing committee, Taufiq Kamil, said the winner of each division would receive US$3,000 in cash, with second place receiving $2,000 and third $1,000.

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Southeast Asia

One Moderate Muslim Applauds Another

2003-10-17

The Indonesian President, Megawati Soekarnoputri, joined a standing ovation for her Malaysian counterpart, Mahathir Mohamad, after he called on Muslims to consider Jews as their enemy, it has been revealed. All 57 leaders at a Conference of Islamic Nations summit applauded the comments, which have renewed regional tensions ahead of next week’s APEC leaders’ conference. Among them were several key figures in the post-September 11 world, including Ms Megawati; the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai; President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Dr Mahathir’s speech was met with a chorus of condemnation from leaders of non-Islamic states yesterday, including the Prime Minister, John Howard. The Foreign Minister, Alexander Downer, last night snubbed Malaysia’s Foreign Minister, Syed Hamid Albar, declining to invite him to a dinner to discuss Islam and the fight against terrorism at the Australian ambassador’s residence in Bangkok. Indonesia’s Hassan Wirayuda attended, along with the foreign ministers of New Zealand, Canada, Singapore and Japan and a US undersecretary of state, Alan Larson. "We will be exploring the issue of how to support moderate Islam and moderate Islamic leadership," Mr Downer said before the dinner. Have fun finding one Sufis, Ismailis, and non-Iranian-affiliated Shiites. Start there and weed out the bad guys when they change turbans to sneak in. "We didn’t invite everybody to it. Malaysia is going through a political transition. In two weeks’ time, Dr Mahathir retires," he said, hailing his successor, Abdullah Badawi, as a "good and moderate and sensible man". He said Dr Mahathir’s remarks had been studiously avoided not been discussed by foreign ministers gathered in Bangkok, neither had President George Bush’s description of Australia as a sheriff. Mr Howard, who arrives in Bangkok this afternoon for the APEC summit, is expected to sign a free trade agreement with Thailand and make a keynote speech on terrorism. He is also due to meet Ms Megawati privately on Monday to discuss regional security issues. Dr Mahathir told the meeting of Islamic leaders in Malaysia on Thursday that "Jews rule this world by proxy". He accused Jews worldwide of "getting others to fight and die for them" and called on Muslims to fight back with their brain and brawn. Mr Howard noted that Dr Mahathir would retire soon, and said he would normally allow such polemical statements from the Malaysian leader to "go through to the keeper". However, he wanted to make clear that "any indication of rivalry between Jews and Muslims is very unhelpful". "Any suggestion from anybody anywhere in the world of dividing the world into Jewish and non-Jewish groupings is historically indefensible and wrong and something that all Australians, or most Australians, would regard as quite repugnant," he said. An Indonesian Government talking puppet spokesman, Marty Natalegawa, expressed support for Dr Mahathir’s statement and declined to condemn his remarks about Jews ruling the world.

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Southeast Asia

Mujahidin Council asks court to allow Bashir to attend congress

2003-07-24

JAKARTA: Leaders of the Indonesian Mujahidin Council (MMI) have requested the Central Jakarta district court allow Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir to attend its second congress in Surakarta, Central Java, on Aug. 10 through Aug. 12. Ummm... Lemme think. No. The council's leaders said, in a letter read during Bashir's trial here Thursday, that the cleric's presence in the upcoming congress was of great importance as he had to deliver an accountability report as chairman of the council. "Bashir is also expected to address the congress," they said. "We'd like you to ship him back to talk to us after you've shot him, too..." However, they noted that if the court rejected their request, they would ask the judges to allow Bashir to prerecord his accountability report and speech. "We just miss hearing him rant..." Presiding judge M Saleh did not respond to the council's request. He was out buying a new keyboard... Bashir is standing trial on charges of planning to assassinate Megawati Soekarnoputri (when she was vice president) and violating immigration law.

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Southeast Asia

Bashir is boss of JI, bomb suspects tell court

2003-05-28

Two of the suspects in the Bali bombing testified yesterday that the Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is the head of the organisation blamed for the attack. Ali Imron and Mubarok said he had replaced Abdullah Sungkar as the leader of Jemaah Islamiah in 1999, but denied they sought his blessing for the October 12 atrocity. But the man believed to be the overall organiser of the bombing, Ali Ghufron, made no such claim, even though he detailed meetings with Bashir. He also said he knew Osama bin Laden well but that bin Laden had no role in the Bali attack. Questioned by the bench, Bashir rejected most of the claims made by the three men and also denied he was the head of JI. "Lies, all lies". For weeks prosecutors have been pursuing Bashir on treason charges, alleging he planned a wave of Christmas bombings in 2000 and also that he conspired to assassinate the then vice-president of Indonesia, Megawati Soekarnoputri. But it is proving Bashir's leadership of JI - and implicating him in the Bali bombings - that is the ultimate goal of prosecutors. While hundreds of heavily armed police stood guard outside the court, hundreds of supporters inside cheered each new witness with roaring calls of "Allahu Akbar" (God is great). Witnesses were led through two lines of police to a chair in the middle of the court where a Koran was held over their head, while they swore to tell the truth. I could be wrong, but I believe that the Koran says it's OK to lie to an infidel. Bashir sat impassively with his defence team as the alleged bombers recounted their relationships with him and explained their version of what JI is. Ali Ghufron said he knew him in Malaysia when they used to pray together in a mosque, but Bashir denied they had ever met. "I don't know him," he said. "His story about Malaysia is also not true." "More lies!" He had the same response to Ali Ghufron's claim that Faiz Bafana, a suspected JI member now detained in Singapore, had told him of a meeting he held with Bashir at his boarding school in Central Java. "Ditto" Ali Imron, who first showed police how the suicide bomb jacket was put together for the attack on Paddy's Irish Pub, said he had first met Bashir at his Islamic boarding school in Ngruki when he visited him there in the 1980s, while one of his brothers was studying there. He said he had met Bashir again in Malaysia in 1996 after returning from Afghanistan, where he had fought against the Russians. Pressed on whether he knew as fact that Bashir was head of JI, or whether it was simply his belief, Ali Imron said: "In my opinion there's no distinction. Since they were always together Abdullah Sungkar and Abu Bakar Bashir, based on my belief he replaced him." "I think they were also lovers" If the elderly cleric was upset with Ali Imron's testimony, he did not show it. He allowed the younger man to kiss him once on each cheek as he bid thanks to those who questioned him - shaking hands with prosecution, defence and judges alike. Mubarok, a teacher at the Al Islam boarding school in East Java, said he had first met Bashir at his school in Central Java in 1983 and again in 1989-90. He said JI was about fighting jihad in Indonesia, especially in areas where Muslims were under threat. Ali Guffron said Bashir "would not agree with the bombings. I have never heard his sermons suggesting violence". He'd be the only one then.

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Southeast Asia

11 Muslim student activists detained in Surabaya

2003-05-18

Police detained 11 out of 40 Indonesian Muslim Student Action Front (KAMMI) activists on Sunday as they were to stage a rally against President Megawati Soekarnoputri's visit to the East Java provincial capital. Antara reported that the students were stopped by police in the vicinity of Tugu Pahlawan (Heroes Monument) square where President Megawati was to hold an unofficial gathering with some 1,000 leaders from throughout the province. They were later taken aboard a truck to the office of the Surabaya City Police for questioning. The students reject Megawati's visit because she has betrayed the reform movement, chief of the Surabaya branch of KAMMI Agus Wahyudianto said. "We want to give the message that Surabaya students reject Megawati because she is not a reformist leader. She has betrayed the reform movement and thus, she must step down as president," he said. I'm not sure if she's betrayed the "reform movement" or if she's been juggling competing demands, all shouted in a loud voice, while dodging brickbats...

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