Alwi asks Matori to resolve dispute through 'heart to heart' discussion<\/p>\n
Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta<\/p>\n
The National Awakening Party (PKB) Alwi Shihab faction held
\nout an olive branch to rival leader Matori Abdul Djalil on
\nThursday, inviting him to settle party dispute through 'a heart
\nto heart\" talk for the sake of PKB's future.<\/p>\n
\"Once again I invite you my brother Matori to come to this
\ncongress which is held for us to talk heart to heart. Explain
\nyour side and let's unite for the sake of PKB's prosperity,\" Alwi
\nShihab said at the opening ceremony of his faction's congress in
\nYogyakarta.<\/p>\n
Alwi's appeal for a \"heart to heart\" reconciliation talk with
\nMatori's camp was met with thunderous applause from thousands of
\nPKB supporters at Al Munawir Islamic boarding school in Krapyak,
\nsome three kilometers to the south from Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
The appeal came just one day after Matori set out the
\nconditions for reconciliation with Alwi's camp, namely that he be
\nallowed to keep his chairmanship, a proposal that has long been
\nrejected by Alwi's camp.<\/p>\n
PKB split into two groups in July 2001 after a small faction
\nled by party chairman Matori attended the special session of the
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly (MPR) which ousted then president
\nAbdurrahman \"Gus Dur\" Wahid, a PKB founder.<\/p>\n
Matori was later asked to resign but refused, prompting PKB
\nleaders to replace him with Alwi Shihab, who served as minister
\nfor foreign affairs during Gur Dur's leadership.<\/p>\n
Alwi, however, told reporters on Thursday that his faction was
\nconsidering to change the party's name.<\/p>\n
\"We are considering another name for our party,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Opened one day after PKB Matori faction concluded its congress
\nin Jakarta, Alwi faction's congress is participated in by 1,553
\npeople coming from 330 regencies and 29 provinces.<\/p>\n
Most NU leaders attended the opening ceremony, including
\nAbdullah Faqih from Langitan, Mbah Lim Imam Puro from Klaten,
\nMustofa Bisri and Cholil Bisri from Rembang and Ilyas Ruchyat.<\/p>\n
Aside from NU leaders, over 500 ulemas from around the country
\nand 73 from NU headquarters also attended the opening ceremony,
\nwhich was also witnessed by Yogyakarta Governor Hamengku Buwono
\nX, and Minister of Health Ahmad Suyudi.<\/p>\n
Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's
\nbiggest Muslim organization that founded PKB, was absent in the
\nopening ceremony as he is currently visiting Saudi Arabia upon
\nthe invitation of its embassy in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Hemengku Buwono X, who attended the opening ceremony in his
\ncapacity as the Sultan of Yogyakarta, said in his speech that the
\ncongress should be the forum to end the conflict, not the
\nbeginning.<\/p>\n
\"PKB should soon end the internal conflict and focus its
\nenergy on serving the people. PKB must be able to offer the
\ncountry a new paradigm which can help the country get out of this
\ncomplicated problems,\" Hamengku Buwono said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, NU youth activist Nurudin Amin from Yogyakarta said
\nthat reconciliation between the two rival groups would unlikely
\ntake place since Matori insisted on establishing his own PKB and
\nholding earlier congress in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"Almost all elements in PKB and NU wanted an 'islah'
\n(reconciliation) before Matori held his congress. But now, I
\ndon't see any door of reconciliation open,\" he told The Jakarta
\nPost.<\/p>\n
Nurudin believed that certain parties were behind Matori's PKB
\ncongress in Jakarta who did not want to see PKB grow bigger.<\/p>\n
\"Reconciliation is impossible unless Matori and his
\nsupporters, including some 'kyai', free themselves from the
\ninfluence of external parties behind them,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Observer Greg Barton from Australia agreed with Nurudin,
\nsaying that the conflict within PKB was similar to those
\nexperienced by the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Nadlatul
\nUlama few years back, when certain interest groups played behind
\nSuryadi and Abu Hasan respectively.<\/p>\n
Barton expressed the hope that the Yogyakarta extraordinary
\ncongress would generate the best solution to the conflict.<\/p>\n
\"All decisions in the congress should be taken with the spirit
\nof the party's unity. Decisions should be acceptable to all
\nelements in the congress so that they won't create new
\ndisappointed people,\" he said.<\/p>\n
During the opening ceremony, Alwi Sihab presented a party
\naward to its founders Abdurrahman Wahid, former NU advisory board
\nIlyas Ruchyat, Ahmad Muchid Muzadi, Mustofa Bisri, and the late
\nNasir Ali respectively.<\/p>",
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