Gus Dur's daughter, actress join PKB board<\/p>\n
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The National Awakening Party (PKB) announced a new central
\nexecutive board here on Sunday, with party chief patron
\nAbdurrahman Wahid's daughter Zanuba Arifah Chafsoh Rahman and
\nactress and women's activist Rieke \"Oneng\" Dyah Pitaloka among
\nthose appointed.<\/p>\n
Zanuba, better known as Yenni, and Rieke, who is a popular
\nactress in the television series Bajaj Bajuri, were named
\ndeputies by PKB secretary-general Muhammad Lukman Edy.<\/p>\n
The new lineup also included senior women's activists
\nNursjahbani Katjasungkana and Maria Pakpahan as deputy PKB
\nchairpersons along with nine others, including legislator Effendy
\nChoirie and Maria Ulfa Anshori, a deputy chairwoman of Nahdlatul
\nUlama's (NU) woman's wing, Fatayat.<\/p>\n
Embracing pluralism, the PKB, founded in 1999 by NU, the
\ncountry's largest Muslim organization, accommodated several non-
\nMuslim figures on the new board, including Christians Hermawi
\nFransiscus Taslim and Jhon Wuwu, Catholic Alexius Gregoris Plate,
\nas well as Anak Agung Ngurah Agung and Krisna Bagus Oka, both
\nfrom the predominantly Hindu province of Bali.<\/p>\n
The board, comprising 55 members, was announced by newly
\nelected PKB tanfidziyah (executive) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar
\nand his uncle, former president Abdurrahman Wahid, better known
\nas Gus Dur, who retained his top post as the party's powerful
\nsyuro (consultative) board chief during last week's congress in
\nSemarang, Central Java.<\/p>\n
Muhaimin, however, failed to include on the new board four
\nsenior PKB politicians including former defense minister Mahfud
\nM.D., former state minister for women's empowerment Khofifah
\nIndar Parawansa, former state minister for research and
\ntechnology Muhammad A.S. Hikam, and chairman of the PKB faction
\nin the House of Representatives Ali Masykur Moesa.<\/p>\n
Mahfud, Ali and Hikam ran as candidates for the position of
\nsecretary-general of the party, however all withdrew just hours
\nbefore elections started. Khofifah had backed Mahfud's
\nnomination. Muhaimin won the election.<\/p>\n
Muhaimin, also a deputy House speaker, said he would intensify
\nhis approaches to Mahfud, Ali and Khofifah and appeal to them to
\nback his leadership.<\/p>\n
\"But these three are free to choose whether they want to be
\npart of the board or not,\" added Muhaimin. The post of deputy
\nsecretary-general is still vacant.<\/p>\n
As for Hikam, who is a former confidante of Gus Dur, he has
\nalready vowed not to join Muhaimin's board, claiming that the
\nSemarang congress and its outcome were illegitimate.<\/p>\n
He instead sided with a rival camp emerging in the PKB led by
\nwelfare minister Alwi Shihab and State Minister for the
\nDevelopment of Disadvantaged Regions Saifullah Yusuf, who is Gus
\nDur's nephew.<\/p>\n
Alwi and Saifullah were suspended as PKB chairman and
\nsecretary-general respectively after joining the Cabinet of
\nPresident Bambang Yudhoyono last October.<\/p>\n
The two, backed a group of influential clerics that co-founded
\nthe PKB, were planning to stage a breakaway congress in
\nYogyakarta apparently to reinstate themselves as leaders.<\/p>\n
They are also suing the PKB over being suspended from their
\nparty positions that was decided at a plenary meeting of the
\nparty's central board, which they claim violated the party's
\nstatutes.<\/p>\n
In response to the moves by his rivals, Muhaimin said the PKB
\nwould punish Alwi, Saifullah and their associates who opposed the
\noutcome of the recent congress.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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