Follow me or pack your bags, Megawati tells party members
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In her capacity as chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), President Megawati Soekarnoputri has admonished her supporters at a national meeting for their disobedience.
"In order to win the 2004 elections, there are only two options: follow my orders or follow the orders of others," Megawati was quoted as saying by party aide Mangara Siahaan on Tuesday.
Mangara, emerging from a closed session chaired by Megawati, said the PDI Perjuangan chairwoman was mad at regional party cadres, whom she found to be rebellious and failing to obey her orders.
The session was part of a two-day national meeting, which opened on Tuesday, held by the rift-riddled ruling party.
Mangara said Megawati was complaining that many party cadres in the regions did not understand the full scope and extent of her authority in the party.
In a veiled reference to Mardijo, head of the party's Central Java chapter, Megawati reportedly said during the session that if party cadres had chosen her as their leader, they must follow her orders.
Mardijo was dismissed from his regional chairmanship after he insisted on contesting the Central Java gubernatorial election last week, despite the decision of the party's central board for him to withdraw from the race.
In what may seem a strange move, but which is becoming more and more common with PDI Perjuangan, the central board threw its weight behind incumbent governor Mardiyanto instead of Mardijo.
Venting their frustration, PDI Perjuangan members went on a rampage in the Central Java capital of Semarang following Mardijo's defeat, accusing the central board of betraying the party's grassroots supporters.
It was not the first scandal to rock PDI Perjuangan. Similar conflicts between the central board of the party and its grassroots members have broken out in Bali, Jakarta and Lampung recently.
Pramono Anung Wibowo, deputy secretary-general of the party, said at a press conference here that the decision by the central board was right and strongly justified.
He said party's chairwoman had the veto over the involvement of party cadres in the elections of regional heads of governments.
The party's national meeting opened only a few days after the ruling party was rocked by a string of internal conflicts in its regional chapters.
The meeting, held at the Sheraton Bandara Hotel, was attended by the party's board of executives, leaders from its 30 chapters nationwide and members of its factions at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) and the House of Representatives (DPR).
High on the agenda of the meeting were recent political developments and preparations for the upcoming Annual Session and the 2004 general elections. The MPR Annual Session is scheduled to run from Aug. 1 to Aug. 10.
"The party is consolidating itself through the meeting, as the 2004 general elections and the MPR Annual Session are drawing near," Soetjipto, secretary-general of the party, informed attendees at the opening of the meeting.
Party top brass who attended the opening ceremony included Arifin Panigoro, former chairman of the PDI Perjuangan faction at the MPR, and the two deputy chairmen of the party, Roy B.B. Janis and Theo Syafei.