PKB will welcome former PAN figures<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The National Awakening Party (PKB) is ready to
\nwelcome political figures who recently quit the National Mandate
\nParty's executive board, said a PKB executive.<\/p>\n
\"The PKB, as an inclusive and cross-religious party, will be
\nwilling to welcome them if former PAN figures want to join the
\nparty,\" Effendi Choirie, chief of the PKB's autonomy affairs
\nsection, said here on Monday.<\/p>\n
\"They have high integrity and a moral commitment to national
\ninterests that match our party's political platform,\" he added.<\/p>\n
Effendi admitted that the PKB executive board had already
\ndiscussed the desire of several former PAN figures to join the
\nparty.<\/p>\n
So far, there has been no reaction from the 16 former PAN
\nfunctionaries who submitted their resignation over the weekend.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Hatta Radjasa, PAN's secretary general, said that
\nneither the party nor its other functionaries could prevent the
\n16 from quitting the party and from joining other political
\nparties.<\/p>\n
But, Hatta stressed that the exodus had nothing to do with
\ncontroversy over PAN's political platform because it had been
\ndecided at the party's national congress last year in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
\"During the congress, we decided to maintain the party's
\ninclusiveness and openness for all religions and ethnicities. I
\ndon't think that the 16 are disappointed with the party's
\nplatform and their exit has nothing to do with any internal
\nconflicts in the party,\" he said.<\/p>\n
During the congress there was a major debate over whether PAN
\nwould lean towards becoming more Islamist.<\/p>\n
Hatta, also chairman of the reform faction in the House of
\nRepresentatives, added that he did not expect the resignations to
\naffect the party's potential vote in the 2004 general election.<\/p>\n
He said the 16 who quit were only a small part of the 350
\nqualified cadres on the executive board and that the party,
\ntherefore, still had numerous cadres ready to fill their
\npositions in the party. (rms)<\/p>",
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