Ismail, Matori in war for PPP top spot<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Matori Abdul Djalil and Ismail Hasan Metareum,
\nemerging as the strongest contenders in the race for the top spot
\nof the United Development Party (PPP), were locked in a war of
\nwords yesterday.<\/p>\n
In their open and escalating rivalry, Matori and Ismail Hasan
\nclaimed to have the support from the majority of the party's
\ncongress participants from the provinces and regencies.<\/p>\n
Ismail Hasan is the incumbent chairman seeking re-election.<\/p>\n
Matori is the party's secretary general who is now attempting
\nto unseat his boss whom he has accused of bringing the party to
\nthe brink of extinction.<\/p>\n
When participants presented their views of Ismail Hasan's
\nleadership of the past five years late Monday, Ismail Hasan got
\nthe upper hand with backing from 16 provincial chapters,while
\nMatori was supported by only two. The remaining nine chapters
\nabstained.<\/p>\n
Although some participants criticized Ismail Hasan's
\nleadership as "too soft" toward the bureaucracy and charged that
\nhe failed to optimally develop the party, most of the
\nparticipants accepted his account of leadership.<\/p>\n
Beaming with optimism over his chances to retain the top party
\npost, Ismail Hasan told the congress yesterday that he would
\ncontinue his much celebrated "cool" leadership style if he was
\nre-elected.<\/p>\n
"But I would see to it that I wouldn't be too cool and freeze
\nas some have feared," he said.<\/p>\n
Ismail Hasan, who is one of the House of Representatives'
\ndeputy speakers, has lost support from his own faction, Muslimin
\nIndonesia (MI), which is headed by H.J. Naro, the man he toppled
\nin the 1989 congress.<\/p>\n
But he played down MI's maneuver, saying that it was the
\ncongress which had the right to vote.<\/p>\n
Ulemas<\/p>\n
Matori, meanwhile, has secured strong support from the ulemas
\ngrouped in Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), to which he is affiliated. He
\nhas also secured the backing of the Central Java and East Java
\nbranches.<\/p>\n
Matori's camp claimed yesterday that he had received
\nendorsement from 173 of PPP's 300 regency branches.<\/p>\n
NU ulemas have not lost hope that Matori will eventually win
\nthe party's leadership race.<\/p>\n
"There is no reason to be pessimistic about Matori's chance,"
\nsaid ulema Cholil Bisri.<\/p>\n
Cholil, however, rejected calls for NU, Indonesia's largest
\nMoslem organization, which claims 35 million members, to campaign
\nto boycott PPP in the 1997 election, if the party's top spot
\nstill goes to an MI leader like Ismail Hasan.<\/p>\n
Matori and Ismail Hasan surprised congress participants
\nyesterday when they hugged each other in front of them, something
\nwhich Ismail Hasan had flatly rejected when journalists asked
\nthem to embrace in friendship on Monday.<\/p>\n
But Matori rejected speculations that the move was a sign that
\nhe conceded defeat in the rivalry.<\/p>\n
"Of course I'm still optimistic," he said when reporters asked
\nabout his chances of clinching the election.<\/p>\n
Beneath the tumultuous surface of the congress is an even more
\nfurious debate about the composition of the electoral board which
\nwill be formed tonight.<\/p>\n
Yesterday, the congress' second day, was dull with all of the
\nstruggle taking place outside the forum.<\/p>\n
Near the entrance to the Pondok Gede Haj Dormitory, about 100
\nyouths and students demonstrated, demanding that the congress
\nelect Sri Bintang Pamungkas -- party chief aspirant who has
\nreceived no backing from participants.<\/p>\n
There were no incidents during the peaceful demonstration held
\nunder the watchful eyes of scores of security officers both in
\nuniform and plainclothes.<\/p>\n
Adding to the color of the day was a clash between
\njournalists, officials and security officers, after security
\nguards hit the camera of a local television journalist as
\nsecurity was making way for Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie
\nS.M. (par\/pan)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ismail-matori-in-war-for-ppp-top-spot-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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