Alwi faction sets conditions for PKB reconciliation
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Awakening Party (PKB) faction led by Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Alwi Shihab said on Wednesday the divided party could only be reconciled if the results of the PKB's recent congress were annulled and an extraordinary congress called.
If the PKB's central board, chaired by House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Muhaimin Iskandar, refuses to organize an extraordinary congress, the Alwi camp said it would hold its own leadership congress.
The PKB was divided into two factions after Muhaimin was elected as its new executive chairman and former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid was retained as the PKB's chief patron during a three-day national congress that began on April 16 in Semarang, Central Java.
Alwi, backed by a group of influential clerics who cofounded the PKB in 1999, called the national congress illegitimate because it failed to involve him and State Minister for the Development of Disadvantaged Regions Saifullah Yusuf.
Alwi and Saifullah were suspended as PKB chairman and PKB secretary-general respectively after joining the Cabinet of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose presidential nomination was opposed by the PKB.
The two are suing the party's central board over the suspensions, which they say violated the party's statutes.
The suspensions were decided on during a plenary meeting of the central board, which agreed to ban PKB executives from serving in government posts. The party's statutes do not say anything about executives holding dual positions.
Earlier, the Muhaimin faction of the PKB opened the possibility of Alwi or Saifullah joining the central board in a show of reconciliation. Muhaimin announced the lineup of his central board on Sunday, leaving the post of deputy chairman vacant.
The new PKB board submitted its lineup on Wednesday to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights to register with the government.
Newly appointed PKB secretary-general Muhammad Lukman Edy insisted on the legitimacy of the Semarang congress, despite the absence of Alwi and Syaifullah.
However, PKB legislator Muhammad A.S. Hikam, who opposed the Semarang congress, said during a news conference on Wednesday the justice ministry should not accept the new party board, which he said was "illegitimate".
"As stated in Law No. 31/2002 on political parties, the existing board must remain in place during a dispute until a resolution is reached. After all, the ministry has not received any letter informing it of the suspension or dismissal of Alwi and Saifullah," he said.
According to the law, any changes to a party's organizational structure must be registered with the justice ministry within 30 days of the change, Hikam added.
He said the Alwi camp also had received the written support of 260 of 430 party branches across the country, as well as senior clerics based in East Java and Central Java, PKB's two main strongholds.
"And, as stipulated in the law on political parties, we also call on all regional general elections councils and local legislative councils not to process any letters or policies that do not have the signatures of Alwi or Saifullah," said Hikam.
In response, PKB deputy head and legislator Effendy Choirie, who is on Muhaimin's central board, said if the justice ministry rejected the new executive board, "we have masses, but we hope this will not happen". 004