Alwi to meet Amien over PKB faction

Alwi to meet Amien over PKB faction

Asip A. Hasani and Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Elected National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Alwi Shihab said
he would meet People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien
Rais on Monday to claim his party's right to the assembly's
deputy chairmanship post left vacant by defense minister Matori
Abdul Djalil.

Alwi said Amien had promised to seek a solution to the issue
which had caused headaches among assembly leaders following
Matori's dismissal as PKB chairman last July and the ensuing
split in the party.

"Pak Amien once said that there was only one real PKB, while
the other was fake. If the assembly takes the public's wide
support for us into account in determining who is the original
PKB, then they should soon approve our candidate Cholil Bisri as
MPR deputy speaker replacing Matori," Alwi said.

"Given the fact that all PKB founders attended our congress
here and confirmed their support for us, there should be no doubt
on the MPR's part to recognize us as the real PKB."

Alwi was speaking after the closing of the PKB's extraordinary
congress which unanimously elected him chairman and justified the
dismissal of Matori.

Most Assembly legislators representing PKB belong to Alwi's
camp.

Matori was fired for attending the MPR special session that
impeached President Abdurrahman Wahid, who is the party's chief
patron, and named Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri his
replacement in July last year. The party had boycotted the
session.

Matori, who Megawati appointed as the defense minister, held
his own PKB congress that kept him as the party chairman last
week. He has repeatedly claimed his camp's right to the Assembly
deputy speaker post.

A court battle between the two camps looks certain.

Separately, Amien expressed concern over internal conflicts
currently rocking some of the country's major political parties.
He said the disputes would undermine democracy, which found a
fertile soil to grow in following the fall of the 32-year-old
authoritarian regime of former president Soeharto in 1998.

"Political parties are the pillars of democracy. How will
democracy be upheld if the pillars deteriorate or break down?"
Amien told Antara on the sidelines of his National Mandate Party
(PAN) function in Jakarta.

Amien, who chairs PAN, was referring to the split in PKB and
the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP).

But he played down speculation that either the government or
the military had played a role in the internal dispute facing the
two parties.

"I'm not sure if the present government could emulate the
country's past regime. The current government is already busy
defusing many problems facing the country," he said.