Alwi embraces NU but Matori turns back on it

Alwi embraces NU but Matori turns back on it

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Reconciliation among rival leaders of the split National
Awakening Party (PKB) remained elusive on Wednesday as the
opposing camps went ahead with their preparations to hold
separate PKB congresses.

Former foreign minister Alwi Shihab's camp will still rely on
the support from traditional Muslim ulemas but the Matori camp
vows it will seek support from the common people from a broad
spectrum.

They are both sticking to their claim that their version of
the PKB leadership is the legitimate one that retains the
grassroots support. The PKB won the fourth most votes in the 1999
general elections and controls nearly 15 percent of the House of
Representatives.

Alwi, who leads a PKB faction supported by former president
Abdurrahman Wahid, said he was confident that the extraordinary
congress from Jan. 16 to Jan. 19 will reaffirm his leadership in
the party founded by Abdurrahman and other leaders of the
Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

"After each camp holds their own congress, we will know who
will be supported by the NU Ulemas, the party founders," Alwi,
said.

Meanwhile, Abdul Khaliq Ahmad, a secretary general from the
PKB faction chaired by current Minister of Defense Matori Abdul
Djalil, stressed that structurally PKB has no relation with NU,
the largest Indonesian Islamic organization which claims to have
40 million members.

Khaliq said, NU leaders would not be invited to the party
congress. "We will invite NU figures in their personal capacity
not representing the organization because officially we have no
relationship with NU," he added.

Matori, who became the PKB chairman when the party was founded
in 1999, was fired from the top post, after he supported an
impeachment against Abdurrahman, who is the chief of the party's
board of patrons.

Matori was replaced by Alwi, but Matori insisted that he is a
still the legal PKB chairman.

Matori's faction will kick off its version of the PKB congress
on Jan. 14 next year, two days before the Alwi-Abdurrahman-NU
party congress begins

Alwi insisted that the presence of NU Ulemas at the gathering
will show the real support of the NU grassroots, therefore such
presence will be more important than the presence of President
Megawati Soekarnoputri, whom Matori has invited to his get-
together.

Matori was appointed by Megawati -- presumably a favor for his
support during Abdurrahman's fall from grace in July -- as
minister of defense in her administration's Cabinet.

Alwi expressed his optimism that the PKB conflict will be
settled after the meetings in January.

"Pak Matori finally will realize that he will not have the
support of NU," he said, adding that he also had a guarantee from
Taufik Kiemas, the president's husband, that Megawati will not
attend Matori's congress.

Khaliq said that preparation for their version of the party
congress was underway with three main agendas, Matori's
accountability speech, revision of the party's internal
constitution and the party's views on problems facing the nation.

He claimed that his congress will be attended by
representatives from 200 PKB regency branches and city branches
as well as 24 PKB provincial chapter representatives.