Alwi denies exodus from PKB

Alwi denies exodus from PKB

JAKARTA: Alwi Shihab, chairman of the National Awakening Party
(PKB), rejected a media report that several influential Muslim
clerics in Banyuwangi, East Java, had threatened to quit the
party.

"So far, they have not officially left the party. The threats
were made after a misunderstanding, where they thought that their
dissatisfaction had been ignored by the central board of the
party," Alwi said, as quoted by Antara on Monday.

Alwi's statement was made following the political threat by 24
Muslim clerics in Banyuwangi, East Java, who were demanding that
the party's central board annul its approval for the newly
installed PKB's Banyuwangi branch executives.

The Muslim clerics considered the approval mechanism to be
unfair and one-sided, and that the central board should have
withheld its approval.

Alwi said the executives of the party's central board were now
investigating the case, including by visiting the Muslim clerics
to listen to their perspective over the case.

The move was taken to get accurate information on the case,
claimed Alwi. -- Antara