Gus Dur denies deflating minority PPP
Gus Dur denies deflating minority PPP
JAKARTA (JP): Moslem scholar Abdurrahman Wahid denied he was
seeking to deflate the minority United Development Party (PPP)
through his alliance with the dominant Golkar.
He said Ismail Hasan Metareum, the chairman of PPP who accused
him of giving political aid to Golkar in penetrating the Moslem-
based party's strongholds, was only "sulking".
"He shouldn't sulk just because he saw my closeness with
(Golkar deputy chairwoman) Tutut," he said yesterday, referring
to Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana. Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur,
escorted Tutut to a meeting with members of the Nahdlatul Ulama
Moslem organization which he chairs.
The United Development Party should, instead, imitate Golkar
leaders in their effort to win the hearts of NU members, he said.
"NU belongs to all three political contestants. No political
organization can claim that NU belongs to them only," he said.
Separately yesterday, Ismail again voiced his suspicion that
Abdurrahman was seeking to deflate PPP's chances in the May 29
general elections through his activities with Golkar.
Through the press, Ismail asked that Abdurrahman stop giving
political aid to Golkar's electioneering in areas traditionally
known as the stronghold of PPP.
"We feel that Abdurrahman Wahid's close relations with Golkar
deputy chairwoman Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana are likely to reduce
votes in the May 29 general elections, especially in the party's
strongholds," Ismail said yesterday.
"Whether or not he realized it, Abdurrahman has deflated PPP
in its election preparations," he added.
Speaking after signing an agreement with the Takaful Keluarga
Insurance Company to insure 1,697 party campaigners, Ismail
pointed at the extensive travel Abdurrahman had undertaken in a
number of PPP stronghold areas in Central Java.
Pekalongan in Central Java and Pasuruan in East Java, for
instance, saw PPP win majority votes in the 1992 election.
Abdurrahman and Hardiyanti have been appearing in public
together, triggering speculation of new political alliances. In
the past two years, Gus Dur was thought to have formed a
political entente with Megawati Soekarnoputri, the ousted chief
of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
Abdurrahman, for instance, took Hardiyanti to meet some 10,000
NU members in Sidoarjo, about 25 kilometers south of the East
Java capital of Surabaya, last Wednesday. The two also appeared
before NU members on March 30 in Semarang.
Two more public appearances for the two have been planned: in
Madiun, East Java, on April 12 and in Kebumen, Central Java, on
April 20.
Though appearing at different functions, the two were in
Pekalongan, the only Central Java town in which PPP won the
majority votes in the 1992 election, on March 26.
Abdurrahman, however, said he was not there for Golkar's
function.
He retaliated to Ismail's charges by saying that it was the
PPP chairman who had discriminated people when recruiting members
of the party's central board.
Ismail had chosen activists who control only 30 percent of
Indonesia's Moslem population while neglecting others who were
actually representing the remaining 70 percent, he charged.
Abdurrahman said he will accompany senior NU leaders hosting
meetings at the organization's boarding schools with
representatives of the three political contestants during the
election campaigning period from April 27 to May 23. (imn)