Alwi asks Matori to resolve dispute through 'heart to heart' discussion

Alwi asks Matori to resolve dispute through 'heart to heart' discussion

Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

The National Awakening Party (PKB) Alwi Shihab faction held
out an olive branch to rival leader Matori Abdul Djalil on
Thursday, inviting him to settle party dispute through 'a heart
to heart" talk for the sake of PKB's future.

"Once again I invite you my brother Matori to come to this
congress which is held for us to talk heart to heart. Explain
your side and let's unite for the sake of PKB's prosperity," Alwi
Shihab said at the opening ceremony of his faction's congress in
Yogyakarta.

Alwi's appeal for a "heart to heart" reconciliation talk with
Matori's camp was met with thunderous applause from thousands of
PKB supporters at Al Munawir Islamic boarding school in Krapyak,
some three kilometers to the south from Yogyakarta.

The appeal came just one day after Matori set out the
conditions for reconciliation with Alwi's camp, namely that he be
allowed to keep his chairmanship, a proposal that has long been
rejected by Alwi's camp.

PKB split into two groups in July 2001 after a small faction
led by party chairman Matori attended the special session of the
People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) which ousted then president
Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, a PKB founder.

Matori was later asked to resign but refused, prompting PKB
leaders to replace him with Alwi Shihab, who served as minister
for foreign affairs during Gur Dur's leadership.

Alwi, however, told reporters on Thursday that his faction was
considering to change the party's name.

"We are considering another name for our party," he said.

Opened one day after PKB Matori faction concluded its congress
in Jakarta, Alwi faction's congress is participated in by 1,553
people coming from 330 regencies and 29 provinces.

Most NU leaders attended the opening ceremony, including
Abdullah Faqih from Langitan, Mbah Lim Imam Puro from Klaten,
Mustofa Bisri and Cholil Bisri from Rembang and Ilyas Ruchyat.

Aside from NU leaders, over 500 ulemas from around the country
and 73 from NU headquarters also attended the opening ceremony,
which was also witnessed by Yogyakarta Governor Hamengku Buwono
X, and Minister of Health Ahmad Suyudi.

Hasyim Muzadi, chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's
biggest Muslim organization that founded PKB, was absent in the
opening ceremony as he is currently visiting Saudi Arabia upon
the invitation of its embassy in Jakarta.

Hemengku Buwono X, who attended the opening ceremony in his
capacity as the Sultan of Yogyakarta, said in his speech that the
congress should be the forum to end the conflict, not the
beginning.

"PKB should soon end the internal conflict and focus its
energy on serving the people. PKB must be able to offer the
country a new paradigm which can help the country get out of this
complicated problems," Hamengku Buwono said.

Meanwhile, NU youth activist Nurudin Amin from Yogyakarta said
that reconciliation between the two rival groups would unlikely
take place since Matori insisted on establishing his own PKB and
holding earlier congress in Jakarta.

"Almost all elements in PKB and NU wanted an 'islah'
(reconciliation) before Matori held his congress. But now, I
don't see any door of reconciliation open," he told The Jakarta
Post.

Nurudin believed that certain parties were behind Matori's PKB
congress in Jakarta who did not want to see PKB grow bigger.

"Reconciliation is impossible unless Matori and his
supporters, including some 'kyai', free themselves from the
influence of external parties behind them," he said.

Observer Greg Barton from Australia agreed with Nurudin,
saying that the conflict within PKB was similar to those
experienced by the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Nadlatul
Ulama few years back, when certain interest groups played behind
Suryadi and Abu Hasan respectively.

Barton expressed the hope that the Yogyakarta extraordinary
congress would generate the best solution to the conflict.

"All decisions in the congress should be taken with the spirit
of the party's unity. Decisions should be acceptable to all
elements in the congress so that they won't create new
disappointed people," he said.

During the opening ceremony, Alwi Sihab presented a party
award to its founders Abdurrahman Wahid, former NU advisory board
Ilyas Ruchyat, Ahmad Muchid Muzadi, Mustofa Bisri, and the late
Nasir Ali respectively.