Internal rifts in PDI Perjuangan getting worse<\/p>\n
Ahmad Junaidi and Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post,
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
The rifts in the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
\nPerjuangan) have worsened as the party's Jakarta councillors
\nopenly challenged the decision of the party's central board
\nchairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri to support the reelection of
\nJakarta Governor Sutiyoso.<\/p>\n
Councillor Ugiek Soegihardjo said on Tuesday that he and some
\nother councillors were ready to face party sanctions for voting
\nagainst Sutiyoso in the gubernatorial election scheduled for
\nSept. 17.<\/p>\n
\"We met last night and decided to continue to support the
\ncandidacy of Tarmidi Suhardjo for governor. We will deal with the
\nconsequences,\" Ugiek told reporters.<\/p>\n
Tarmidi, who is the Jakarta council's deputy chairman and the
\nPDI Perjuangan city chapter chairman, was earlier nominated by
\nparty branches as a gubernatorial candidate.<\/p>\n
Besides Tarmidi, the meeting also agreed to support 10 other
\ncandidates, not including Sutiyoso.<\/p>\n
However, last week, the party's central board decided to
\nsupport Sutiyoso, a former Jakarta Military Commander, as he was
\nconsidered capable of maintaining security in the city in the
\nrun-up to the People's Consultative Assembly General Session and
\nthe next general election in 2004.<\/p>\n
Ugiek said the party's city branches had received copies of
\nthe central board's decision.<\/p>\n
The letter from the central board threatened to impose
\nsanctions on party councillors who refused to support Sutiyoso's
\ncandidacy.<\/p>\n
Ugiek revealed that on Monday night he met councillors Tarmidi
\nSuhardjo, Ismiyati Soekarno and Tarmidi Edi Suwarno, and agreed
\nto ignore the party's central board decision.<\/p>\n
Many PDI Perjuangan supporters have also rejected Sutiyoso's
\nnomination.<\/p>\n
Dozens of members from East Jakarta and Central Jakarta staged
\na protest at the City Council building on Tuesday. They claimed
\nthat the party's central board had violated its own decisions,
\nnamely No. 262\/1999 and No. 264\/2000, which stated that
\ngubernatorial candidates should be drawn from among the ranks of
\nparty members.<\/p>\n
Separately, Meilono Soewondo, a member of the House of
\nRepresentatives (DPR) from the PDI Perjuangan, said Megawati had
\ngone too far in using the powers granted to her by the party at
\nits congress in Bali in October 1998.<\/p>\n
\"I think Ibu Megawati has gone to far in issuing a directive
\nto City Council members to reelect Sutiyoso as Jakarta's
\ngovernor,\" Meilono told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Another PDI Perjuangan legislator, Indira Damayanti Bambang,
\nsaid that the directive showed Megawati's lack of sensitivity to
\nthe political atmosphere.<\/p>\n
She said that the directive, backed up by the threat of
\npunishment against those who disobeyed, would worsen the rifts in
\nthe party, not only among city councillors from the party but
\nalso at the grassroots level.<\/p>\n
\"The July 27 incident was a tragedy for the PDI Perjuangan. So
\nit's not so surprising that the victims of the incident are
\ndisappointed with Megawati's decision to nominate someone who is
\nimplicated in the case,\" said Indira, referring to the attack on
\nthe PDI headquarters in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Indira, who has just announced her resignation from the House,
\ncalled on the party's city councillors to listen to their
\nconsciences in deciding whether to obey the party directive.<\/p>\n
\"I don't want to provoke them, but I hope they will listen to
\ntheir heart,\" she added.<\/p>",
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