Election agency gives Soerjadi candidate forms

JAKARTA (JP): The government reinforced its support of Soerjadi as chief of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) by providing him yesterday with forms to submit his candidates for legislative bodies.

The General Elections Institute gave Soerjadi 850 forms for the preliminary list of candidates, despite continued protest from supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri, whom Soerjadi ousted at a government-sponsored rebel congress in Medan, North Sumatra, last month.

"A delegation of PDI's central board came here and took the forms for the preliminary list of legislators," institute spokesman Dailami said.

The delegation, led by secretary-general Buttu Hutapea, consisted of Panangian Siregar, Ismunandar, Hermawi F. Taslim and Romulus Sihombing.

Megawati and her supporters have rejected Soerjadi's group as unconstitutional, and decried the government's decision to allow him to draw up the list. Megawati's camp has prepared their own list of candidates for the House of Representatives and the lower provincial legislative councils.

Hutapea, however, denied that his delegation came to the institute to fetch the documents. He said they came only for a consultation.

Meanwhile, dozens of Soerjadi's supporters took over the office of PDI's Jakarta chapter in Petamburan, West Jakarta yesterday, but were later chased away by Megawati supporters.

Haryanto Taslam, deputy secretary-general of Megawati's board, said Megawati's supporters have initially decided to hand over the office to the police, pending a solution to the leadership dispute. They were in the middle of removing files and equipment when police gave the keys to the office to Suryadi's supporters, who tried to force their way in.

The Megawati loyalists then assembled about 50 men and returned to reoccupy the building.

Following a brief occupation, about 150 pro-Megawati activists from the Jakarta chapter tried unsuccessfully to proceed to Soerjadi's official residence.

Riding motorbikes and wearing the party's color, red, the protesters were forced to turn back by anti-riot police, who blocked the street in front of the residence.

Representatives of the protesters managed to meet Buttu Hutapea and gave him a copy of a petition attesting their rejection of the results of the Medan congress. In the document, they also condemned Soerjadi's camp for using his residence as a temporary headquarters.

The government and the military have said that the new party board elected by the congress represented the lawful leadership and have barred Megawati's faction from taking part in next year's general elections.

The faction supporting Megawati has been holding on to the party's national headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta. Meanwhile, Soerjadi and his camp have set up a temporary headquarters at his official residence on Jl. Denpasar Raya in South Jakarta. (imn)