Government approves PDI's rival congress<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): After repeated statements of a hands-off policy
\nin connection with leadership wrangling in the minority
\nIndonesian Democratic Party (PDI), the government yesterday
\nendorsed a request from the party's rival board for permission to
\nhold a fresh chairmanship election.<\/p>\n
\"The majority of the party's members have requested permission
\nto convene a congress. The government should not reject the
\nmajority's request,\" Home Affairs Ministry Director General of
\nSociopolitics Sutoyo N.K. told reporters after receiving a
\ndelegation of some activists of the rival board yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"Since the beginning, the government has observed that PDI is
\nstill absorbed in internal problems,\" he said. \"The government
\nwould accept any offer to solve the problems, as long as they are
\nin line with the party's constitution and statutes.\"<\/p>\n
Some 40 PDI members came to the Ministry of Home Affairs
\nyesterday, proposing a congress to solve rifts in the party.<\/p>\n
\"The last national meeting left some unfinished business that
\nis disturbing the party's activities,\" said Buttu Hutapea, the
\nspokesperson of the North Sumatra chapter of PDI.<\/p>\n
The meeting he referred to was the disputed extraordinary
\ncongress in Surabaya, East Java, in December 1993. At the
\ncongress, Megawati won the majority of votes of the party's
\nregional branches. The result was legalized in a national
\n\"deliberation\" meeting in January 1994.<\/p>\n
Among the unfinished business that Buttu mentioned was the
\nfailure of the current central executive board to establish the
\nCentral Supervisory Board and Party's Supervisory Council. The
\ncentral board also failed to solve the leadership rift in the
\nEast Java chapter, he said.<\/p>\n
\"The solutions can only be achieved through a congress,\" Buttu
\nsaid, adding that most of the chapters supported the call for a
\nconvening of the congress.<\/p>\n
The group claimed yesterday they were representing 21 of 27
\nprovincial chapters and 215 of 305 branches of PDI.<\/p>\n
Secretary-general Alexander Litaay of Megawati's board
\nyesterday criticized the government's decision. \"It's not helping
\nPDI resolve its problems. The government shouldn't have made such
\na hasty decision,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"The government should have checked whether those people
\nrepresented the majority of PDI's members,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The government has repeatedly stated that it supported
\nMegawati as the only legitimate leader of the party.<\/p>\n
Separately, PDI's Deputy House Speaker, Soerjadi, said he
\nsupported the proposal and added that Megawati should also agree
\nwith it.<\/p>\n
Soerjadi, whom Megawati defeated in the party's 1993 election,
\nsaid there has not been any congress held to legalize the results
\nof 1993's national meeting. According to the statutes, decisions
\ntaken in the meeting should be approved by a national-scale
\ncongress first, he pointed out.<\/p>\n
\"Megawati's board has no right to claim itself as the
\nsanctioned board with a five-year tenure,\" he added. (01\/imn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/government-approves-pdis-rival-congress-1447893297",
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