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Thousands Of Indonesians Rally In Support Of Embattled Wahid
JAKARTA, Feb 4 (News Agencies) - Some 3,000 Muslim students took to the streets in Indonesia's East Java province on Sunday in support of embattled President Abdurrahman Wahid.
The protestors marched through the streets of Pasuruan district after staging a mass gathering that caused traffic congestion, the Detikcom online news portal reported.
The students vowed to defend Wahid "to the last drop of our blood," Detikcom said.
Most of the students were from Muslim schools affiliated to the 40-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Islamic group that Wahid chaired for 15 years before he was elected president.
Wahid has been under mounting pressure to step down and hand over power to Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri after parliament censured him on Thursday for his alleged involvement in two corruption scandals.
NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi was quoted as saying by the Kompas daily on Sunday that the censure had made it impossible for the group's leaders to rein in their members.
"I've said all along that once the parliament issues a [censure] memorandum, I will no longer have the power to hold them back," he said.
Daily protests have been held, mainly in Jakarta, to call for Wahid's resignation over his involvement in the scandals.
The censure could be the first step toward a lengthy impeachment process.
Amien Rais, chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), the country's top legislature, has called for an immediate special session of the upper house to impeach Wahid.
A parliamentary probe has found that Wahid could be suspected of involvement in the so-called "Bulogate" scandal, and had lied in connection with another scandal dubbed the "Bruneigate" affair.
Bulogate concerns the theft of $3.9 million from the state food distribution agency Bulog, allegedly by Wahid's masseur and one-time business partner.
Legislators have charged that Wahid, a virtually blind Muslim cleric, had knowledge of the illegal disbursement of Bulog's funds.
They have also accused him of inconsistency in explaining how he spent a $2 million donation from the Sultan of Brunei.
Despite the politically damaging censure and mounting calls for his resignation, Wahid has pledged to serve until his term ends in 2004, claiming the people still support him.
In a gathering on Sunday with a cultural group at a presidential palace in Bogor, south of Jakarta, Wahid reaffirmed his willingness to stay on.
"I love this country very much. I will never abandon it in a state of mess," he was quoted by Detikcom.
His spokesman has also denied rumors that some ministers in Wahid's cabinet would resign in a show of opposition to the country's first democratically elected leader.
On Saturday, Wahid approved the resignation of State Administrative Reform Minister Ryaas Rasyid, the key actor in a scheme to devolve more powers to the regions, after he initially refused to do so.
Rasyid tendered his resignation earlier this year, citing irreconcilable differences with Wahid over the autonomy plan.
In addition to the charges of corruption, Wahid's 15-month old government has also been dogged by violent separatist conflicts at both ends of the sprawling archipelagic nation as it struggles to emerge from the economic doldrums.
In the latest incident of separatist violence, four members of the army's feared Kopassus special forces were killed on Saturday by members of the Free Papua Movement in the easternmost Irian Jaya province.
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