306 branches OF PDI to sue 1,000 rebels

JAKARTA (JP): Megawati Soekarnoputri is raising a nationwide legal storm by filing 306 simultaneous lawsuits against participants of an Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) rebel congress which toppled her last month.

R.O. Tambunan, one of the lawyers representing Megawati's central executive board, said yesterday that all of the 306 PDI branches supportive of Megawati will sue 1,000 participants of the congress in Medan, North Sumatra, which elected Soerjadi as new chairman.

"They will file the lawsuits within the next several weeks," Tambunan said.

Megawati joined forces yesterday with the Indonesian Bar Association and the Legal Aid Institute to establish her national team of lawyers called the "Public Defenders for Indonesian Democracy".

Megawati said the legal action was meant as a lesson for PDI members and the public in general to have the courage to stand up against injustices.

"I have come across many Indonesians, especially those living in rural and remote areas, who have long lived in fear," she said during a modest ceremony to establish the team. "Those people are silent and become suspicious of people who ask them about their personal affairs."

"They shouldn't be so fearful. They should realize that they have the right to express their feelings, opinions and make their own choices," she said.

Tambunan said the team of lawyers have already found a number of "irregularities" committed by a group of party dissenters who initiated the rebel congress. "The participation of PDI members in the gathering did not meet standard procedures stipulated in party statutes," he said.

In addition, civilian and military authorities have put "pressure" on PDI regional executives into taking part in the congress, Tambunan charged.

Led by Fatimah Achmad, a deputy chairperson whom Megawati later dismissed, the congress was financed and endorsed by the government. The event elected Soerjadi to replace Megawati, who was elected by popular vote in 1993.

Separately yesterday, chairman of the Institute for Strategic Studies of Indonesia Rudini suggested that Megawati and Soerjadi sit together and negotiate.

"The best solution for the party's rival leadership is for the two to consolidate," said the former home affairs minister. He also offered to mediate.

Rudini called on the government and the Armed Forces to handle the PDI dispute with care. "Please consider the adverse impacts of the dispute. Careless handling of the dispute may plunge the nation into disintegration," he said.

Rudini, who for the past several years has been an outspoken political observer, said that the government and the military had previously made wrong decisions in handling the PDI crisis.

"All of the necessary decisions should have been made with the interests of the nation in mind, not those of a certain group," he said.

The leader of the Central Java chapter of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Moslem organization, Muslim Rifai Imampuro, said in Klaten yesterday that the PDI rift would end only if President Soeharto recognized Megawati as the party's legitimate leader.

"The crisis will then end and the nation's political situation will return to normal," he said. (imn/har)