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.