Jakarta – Overshadowed by the tumultuous events in Indonesia this week the groups at the forefront of the overthrow of former dictator Suharto declared they would have no part in the furore over whether President Abdurrahman Wahid should resign.
Indonesia's five most active student groups and the country's respected pro-reform NGO coalition all announced their neutrality over whether or not Wahid should be allowed to stay in power. This time, they said, they would not be in the streets on either side.
The NGOs – who include the Alliance of Independent Journalists and the Indonesian Legal Aid and Human Rights Association (PBHI) – held a joint press conference on Friday to urge people not to be drawn into an "elitist" struggle which could derail post-Suharto reform efforts.
At the conference the Joint Forum of Non-Governmental Organizations, whose members have been fighting corruption and working to prevent the return of still-powerful supporters of the former dictator, laid the blame for the Wahid conflict on Suharto's old Golkar Party.
Other groups included the Commission for the Victims of Violence and Disappeared Persons (KONTRAS), The Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), The Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), and the Indonesian Forum for the Environment (Walhi).
"Don't be provoked and pitted against each other by Golkar which has succeeded in blocking out and obscuring the real issues," PBHI chairman, Hendardi, told the press conference.
The forum, Hendardi said, also called on people to keep the spirit of total reform alive – keep working to bring Suharto and his cronies to court, eliminate corruption and nepotism in all its forms and to get the military out of politics.
The NGO forum, he said was determined "not to be drawn into or trapped " into the conflict over Wahid, and would continue its anti-New order struggle.
The New Order was the name Suharto gave to his 32-year-long regime which relied on the military and the Golkar to stay in power.
Those fanning the Wahid dispute were not representative of the public, and were acting "only in their own narrow political interests," said another speaker. The five student organizations, some new and some old, held their press conference on Thursday – before parliament announced its decision to censure Wahid – saying what everyone already knew – that many of the groups on the streets were paid "rent-a-mobs."
In a joint statement issued at Jakarta's Atmajaya University, the five – the Trisakti Students' Action Forum (Kamtri), City Forum (Forkot), Democratic National Students' League (LMND), Democratic National Forum (FND) and Indonesian Youth Struggle Forum (FPPI) Jakarta – said they would "stand above the conflict."
Like the NGO's they said they were "more concerned with combating the legacy of Suharto's New Order regime," corruption both in the new government and outside it.
"We state our neutral attitude firmly. For us, corruption, collusion and nepotism established by the governments of the New Order and Gus Dur must be abolished," said Faisal Sainema, General Secretary of City Forum, referring to the 60-year-old Wahid by his nickname.
Developments had given rise to worries that the furore over the president were a "political game" or smoke screen under which Suharto loyalists hoped to seize back power," Sainema said.
FPPI secretary genral Muhaji, urged all students not to let themselves be played with by the political elite, to hang on to their reform program.
In Jakarta on Saturday, the results of the resolutions were clear but the reaction mixed. Students meeting in their hundreds inside campuses for meetings and discussion forums were divided – some upholding the Atmajaya declaration – others arguing that fighting corruption meant fighting Wahid.
But in the streets new banners had spung up on hoardings and at main intersections – emblazoned with the reform and anti-corruption slogans of 1998 – and warning Golkar not to try to take advantage of the situation to stage a comeback.