Sudomo criticizes people jumping ship<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): People who abandoned the rift-ridden Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party (PDI) for the United Development Party (PPP) are
\n\"spineless,\" Golkar cadre Sudomo said yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"They're spineless. They wouldn't have jumped ship had they
\nreally believed in their choice,\" said Sudomo, also chairman of
\nthe Supreme Advisory Council and a close aide to President
\nSoeharto.<\/p>\n
\"But then, it's usual in politics for people to bargain,\" he
\ntold reporters after meeting Soeharto here yesterday.<\/p>\n
He was commenting on the increasing number of PDI supporters
\nwho had switched their allegiance to the PPP. Some observers have
\nsaid this exodus may threaten the dominant Golkar, which has been
\nin power since 1971.<\/p>\n
But many people are reported to have switched parties,
\nespecially to Golkar, in recent years.<\/p>\n
People claiming to be PPP and PDI supporters changed their
\nallegiances to Golkar last Friday before crowds at nine Golkar
\nrallies in Serang regency, West Java. Two of the new Golkar
\nsupporters were given yellow party vests before the crowd at one
\nat the rallies.<\/p>\n
On Sunday in Sorong, Irian Jaya, the PPP local chapter deputy
\nchairman, Bachtiar Dg. Nassa, resigned from his party to join
\nGolkar. \"All of the results of development that we have been
\nenjoying are the fruits of Golkar's labors,\" he said in a
\nstatement.<\/p>\n
\"I am doing this out of my own conscience, not because I was
\npressured,\" he was quoted by Antara as saying. No Golkar
\nofficials have criticized people for switching their loyalties to
\nGolkar.<\/p>\n
In a town in North Sumatra on Sunday, dozens of people went to
\na PPP office to pledge their support for the party.<\/p>\n
More recently, groups disillusioned by the PDI's protracted
\nsplit have begun toting banners and wearing T-shirts with
\nslogans, which suggest that an unlikely alliance between the
\nChristian-nationalist PDI and the Moslem-based PPP is emerging. A
\npopular slogan is \"Mega-Bintang Jaya\".<\/p>\n
Mega is a nickname for Megawati Soekarnoputri, the ousted PDI
\nchief, bintang or star is the symbol of the PPP and jaya means
\nvictorious.<\/p>\n
The PPP has been enjoying the exodus of PDI supporters to its
\nranks so much that its chairman, Ismail Hasan Metareum, has dared
\nto predict the party will win more votes in Jakarta at the May 29
\nelection.<\/p>\n
The government moved yesterday to curb the exodus by banning
\nexpressions of the Megawati-PPP alliance at rallies, even though
\nPPP executives have been reluctant to recognize the alliance.<\/p>\n
PPP Secretary-general Tosari Widjaya said last Friday there
\nwas no written agreement on an alliance between Megawati and
\nIsmail Hasan Metareum.<\/p>\n
\"This (the exodus of PDI supporters to PPP) is legitimate in
\nan election campaign, which serves to politically educate all
\nIndonesians,\" Tosari was quoted by Antara as saying.<\/p>\n
A PPP East Java chapter official, Sahar L. Hasan, said: \"It
\n(the exodus) is not something that people should fear.\"<\/p>\n
Competition<\/p>\n
H. Mappa Nasrun of Hasanuddin University in Ujungpandang,
\nSouth Sulawesi, said Friday that Golkar and PPP could benefit
\nfrom the many disillusioned PDI supporters.<\/p>\n
\"They can compete to woo the undecided,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the government-recognized PDI faction,
\nSoerjadi, down-played the exodus: \"No one is forbidden from
\nleaving the PDI. Likewise, if there are supporters of the other
\ncontestants who wish to join the PDI, they would be welcome.\"<\/p>\n
Golkar functionary Siswono Yudohusodo said recently that
\nchanging allegiances should not be blown out of proportion and
\nthat the PPP and PDI were not Golkar's enemies.<\/p>\n
\"Which is why, during this election campaign, there shouldn't
\nbe any brawls between supporters,\" he said. (swe)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sudomo-criticizes-people-jumping-ship-1447893297",
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