Campaign fund need to bring PKB together again?

Campaign fund need to bring PKB together again?

Arya Abhiseka, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The two factions of the National Awakening Party (PKB) appear
to be moving closer to reconciliation after leaders from both
sides made their first public appearance together since the split
on Sunday.

During a mass prayer meeting organized by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
in Surabaya to oppose a possible United States attack on Iraq,
the chairman of the PKB splinter group, Matori Abdul Jalil, who
was present in his capacity as defense minister, was seen
greeting former president and PKB founder Abdurrahman Wahid.

Matori sat next to PKB chairman Alwi Shihab during the prayer
meeting, which was held at the Brawijaya Military Command parade
ground.

Commenting on his meeting with his rivals, Matori said he had
constantly made efforts to bring about peace between the two
factions.

"There should only be one version of the PKB," he said as
quoted by Antara.

The PKB, the fourth largest faction in the 500-member House of
Representative with 51 seats, experienced a leadership feud after
then chairman Matori joined forces with Gus Dur's opponents in
July 2001 to dismiss the president from power and make Megawati
Soekarnoputri the country's first ever female president.
Indonesia has seen three different presidents since the fall of
Soeharto in May 1998.

Gus Dur, who is the party's chief patron, sacked Matori and
appointed his former foreign minister Alwi as the acting
chairman. Alwi was elected the party's definitive chairman during
a PKB extraordinary congress last year.

Matori claimed that his dismissal from the chairmanship was
unlawful and took his loyal supporters with him when forming his
own faction of the PKB.

Since then, both Matori and Alwi have been claiming that their
respective factions are the official PKB, and have sued each
other in the courts.

Alwi's claim to PKB legitimacy has been politically accepted
by the President and the legislative bodies, as shown by their
approval of the legislative candidates proposed by Alwi to
replace Matori supporters in the House of Representatives and
People's Consultative Assembly.

Matori said on Sunday he would consider the preconditions set
by Gus Dur for reconciliation, namely dissolution of his splinter
faction, his acknowledgement of Alwi's leadership and his
dropping of the lawsuit he has filed against the legitimacy of
Alwi's PKB.

"My biggest concern is the creation of a bigger and stronger,
unified PKB," Matori said.

Matori has reportedly met Gus Dur secretly several times to
discuss a possible reconciliation between the two camps.

The government has vowed not to disburse campaign funds to
either side unless the dispute is settled.

The government has also threatened to disqualify both factions
if the same names, attributes and symbols are sought to be
employed during the election next year.

The Ministry of Justice and Human Rights accepted one PKB
registration last month to contest the coming election, while
both sides claim to be entitled to register themselves.

"Yes, we registered ourselves under the PKB name in February,"
said Ali Masykur Musa, the secretary of Alwi's PKB, on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Asikin from Matori's camp also claimed that his
faction had registered itself under the PKB name.

"We finished the registration process prior to February," he
said.