The Jakarta Post, 4/5/2004 3:24:28 PM
Voters at Ba'asyir's school say Megawati government is "U.S.
lackey"
NGRUKI, Central Java (AFP): Staff at an Islamic boarding school co-founded by
radical cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir said their pupils were voting in Indonesia's election
on Monday but would shun "lackeys of the United States and the Zionists."
Ba'asyir himself, who is accused by foreign governments of having led the Al
Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group, was banned from voting at Jakarta's
Salemba prison because he lacked a registration card.
A spokesman for the al-Mukmin school here said 400 of the 1,700 students were
expected to vote. The others were below the minimum age of 17. Some 350 teachers
and other staff would vote near their homes.
"It is not a question of whether we approve of the government. It is our contribution so
that development and progress can continue," said the spokesman, Ustadz (teacher)
Fikri.
He said that for him and everyone else at the school, the current government was just
"a lackey of the United States and the Zionists" and Ba'asyir's detention was the
result of overseas pressure.
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