Alwi camp to get on with PKB congress

Indra Harsaputra and Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya/Jakarta

The Alwi Shihab faction of the National Awakening Party (PKB) insisted it would proceed with the planned congress in Surabaya despite threats from supporters of the official party leader Muhaimin Iskandar and the absence of a police permit.

Head of the organizing committee Choirul Anam said that he was not afraid of threats from the Muhaimin supporters, who have demanded that the Alwi camp remove PKB trappings during the congress.

"We will ignore the threat, and if they do that (forcibly remove posters and banners) during the congress then they will likely have to deal with the police later," Anam said.

The two-day congress is scheduled to take place at the Sukolilo haj dormitory in Surabaya on Oct. 1.

The PKB has split into two factions -- one led by Alwi (who is also Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare) and State Minister for the Development of Disadvantaged Regions Saefullah Yusuf as secretary-general; and another camp led by Muhaimin, a deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.

Separately, National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Aryanto Boedihardjo said that there was no need for the organizing committee to obtain a special permit from the National Police Headquarters.

This contradicts an earlier statement from the police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Soenarko, wherein he stated that the National Police would not issue a permit for the congress because the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights had already issued a decree on the composition of the PKB central board, in which Muhaimin Iskandar is recognized as the sole party leader.

Aryanto added that the organizing committee only needed to send a notification letter to the police and that the police would issue a receipt for the letter that was usually used as a permit.

"We have received a notification letter signed by Alwi Shihab, but we haven't issued any receipt yet for the letter because their documents are not complete yet," Aryanto said, without mentioning details on what documents were still missing.

Aryanto insisted that such activities did not require any permit from the police as written in Law No. 9/1998 on freedom of speech.

However, Article 510 of the Criminal Code states that any gathering with a very large number of people, requires a permit from the local police, or the organizing committee risks a maximum of a two-year jail sentence, or a fine of Rp 150,000 (US$15).

Aryanto added that the police would not interfere with the congress or other activities held by political parties, but it would try to prevent any conflicts that might happen during the event.

In Lombok, a clash between police officers and farmers attending a recent conference in Central Lombok occurred because the local police claimed that the organizing committee for the conference did not obtain a permit.