PDI decides criteria for new leadership<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The likelihood of Megawati Soekarnoputri, the
\nousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), regaining
\nher post in June's government-sanctioned congress declined
\nyesterday as one of the criteria set forth for leadership
\ncandidates requires them to have been actively participants in
\nlast year's general election.<\/p>\n
PDI deputy chairwoman Clara Marion Lientje Sitompul Tambunan,
\nmet with the Ministry of Home Affairs' director general for
\nsociopolitical affairs, Maj. Gen. Achdary, to present a set of
\ncriteria for the PDI leadership candidates.<\/p>\n
One of the criteria clearly specifies that the party's chair
\nmust have actively taken part in the May 1998 election.<\/p>\n
\"Otherwise, he or she will not pass the screening for the
\nPDI's leadership race,\" Clara later told journalists without
\nspecifically mentioning Megawati.<\/p>\n
Megawati was ousted in a government-backed rebel PDI congress
\nin June 1996 and replaced by Soerjadi.<\/p>\n
The criteria presented yesterday also stipulate that PDI
\nleadership candidates should have endeavored to achieve the best
\nfor the party in the general election.<\/p>\n
\"Any candidate, who contributed to PDI's total failure in last
\nyear's election, should not be renominated at the party
\ncongress,\" she said.<\/p>\n
PDI flopped in the nationwide elections, winning only the
\nminimum 11 seats in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
The dominant Golkar won 325 of the 425 House seats up for
\ngrabs, while the United Development Party (PPP) also made big
\ngains by winning 89 House seats.<\/p>\n
Many have attributed PDI's collapse from winning 56 seats in
\nthe 1992 election to just 11, to Megawati's boycott of the poll.<\/p>\n
Clara also said yesterday that the next PDI leader should be a
\nfigure capable of uniting the party.<\/p>\n
She dismissed the possibility of former minister of
\ntransmigration Siswono Yudohusodo's participation in the
\nleadership race.<\/p>\n
\"A candidate must be a PDI cadre, not an outsider,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Siswono, a Golkar-turned nationalist, was given ministerial
\nposts in the fifth and sixth development cabinets because of his
\nGolkar membership.<\/p>\n
He has been described by many as a potential candidate to lead
\nPDI after Soerjadi.<\/p>\n
Asked about the venue for the party congress, Clara said any
\ncity in Java would be suitable as they would be the easiest to
\nreach.<\/p>\n
PDI was born in 1973 out of a merger of five former
\nNationalist and Christian political parties -- the Indonesian
\nNationalist Party, the Murba Party, the Independence Vanguard
\nParty, the Indonesian Catholic Party and the Christian Party.
\n(imn)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pdi-decides-criteria-for-new-leadership-1447893297",
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