A few PPP favorites aim to garner support
JAKARTA (JP): The congress of the United Development Party (PPP) to be held from Nov. 29 through Dec. 3 will be mainly watched for the emergence of potential leaders. It is in these people that the PPP will entrust its hopes of survival, and if possible, gain some leverage among other top public figures leading other parties.
Among favorite names coming up from PPP provincial chapters are secretary-general of the National Commission on Human Rights Baharuddin Lopa, PPP deputy chairman Jusuf Syakir, State Minister of Food and Horticulture A.M. Saefuddin and State Minister of Investment/Chairman of the investment Coordinating Board Hamzah Haz. Others include former PPP chairman and once self-proclaimed presidential candidate Jaelani Naro.
Chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum, 69, has said that he would not run again. He has said all names raised by chapters have met his criteria -- including a sound morality, capability of keeping this party originating in an amalgation of several organizations intact, a commitment to maintaining national unity and the ability "to be a locomotive of reform," Suara Pembaruan afternoon daily quoted him saying Friday.
Despite being new to the party, Baharuddin Lopa, hailing from South Sulawesi, is a name familiar to the public, bureaucrats, prisoners and rights activists because he was former director general of correctional rehabilitation institutions, and now known for his advocacy of human rights. Among others he chaired the Commission's fact-finding team on rights abuses in Aceh, North Sumatra and now chairs the party's experts council.
Many PPP figures warmly welcomed Lopa, 63, when he decided to join the party this year, not only because of his career but also because of his frankness, honesty and dedication. Lopa is also now known for the private corruption watch body, Gempita, which he set up in June. Lopa's career in prosecution dated from 1958. He is a father of seven.
Hamzah Haz, a native of West Kalimantan, has wide support in his home province and in Java. On Friday he pledged to stick to the party's reform program if he was elected to lead the PPP. Party officials say much of the party's program "is in line with student demands" such as the end to the dual function of the military, but they are against "radical" means.
Hamzah, 58 and a father of 12, is optimistic of the election. "Seventy percent of party provincial chapters have encouraged me to accept nomination for the party's top post and they pledged to nominate me in the congress," he said, adding that he might step down from his post as state minister if he was elected.
He said he would continue PPP's fight against the Armed Forces' political role, including against its presence in the House of Representatives (DPR) and for the lifting of the Pancasila state ideology as sole basis for political parties and mass organizations.
Before he became minister Hamzah chaired the party faction in the House of Representatives and was most known for his role in the commission on state budget. Of PPP's many components he comes from the largest Moslem organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
A.M. Saefuddin, 58, has also pledged that he would fight for democracy. "The people's sovereignty should be restored, their political rights should be respected," he said Friday.
He said that despite the party's Moslem characteristic, he would turn PPP into an inclusive political party open to all ethnicities and religion -- a vision appealing to a cosmopolitan electorate embraced by other parties which are led by renown Moslem intellectuals. He claimed his support reached "80 percent of the party's figures and party chapters."
Saefuddin, from Cirebon, West Java, who holds a doctorate degree in agricultural economy, said that he would not quit his ministerial job if he was elected PPP chairman because there were no laws and MPR decrees against it.
He said that he was sure no sides in the party would refuse to nominate him just because of his controversial remarks, the latest being on the religion of Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairperson of the splinter Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
Another candidate is Jusuf Syakir, 64, a legislator for five terms, and now deputy chairman of the PPP faction in the lower House and chairman of the PPP faction in the People's Consultative Assembly. He also enjoys wide support in his home town of Klaten, Central Java and in other provinces.
The father of three was a member of the party's advisory council besides being a former secretary general of the Association of Moslem Students in 1965 to 1966. In the House Jusuf formerly sat in the commission on finance, trade and banking. (rms)