Gus Dur nomination challenged by party members
Indra Harsaputra and A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya/Jakarta
Dissension among members of a major Islam-oriented party was apparent when some leaders and supporters refused the party's recommendation of Abdurraham "Gus Dur" Wahid as its presidential candidate.
Hundreds of supporters of the National Awakening Party (PKB) on the first day of the campaign period in Batam refrained from expressing their support for Gus Dur.
"Let's pray that Bapak becomes President," the master of ceremonies said on Thursday. But, he was referring to party leader Alwi Shihab.
The supporters replied in unison,"Amen."
Antara reported that Alwi had ignored the supporters and continued with his campaign speech as though nothing had happened.
Alwi said that PKB was determined to uphold morality to fight against corruption practices.
In Surabaya, an influential leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) dismissed on Thursday an earlier meeting of Gus Dur's supporters as invalid.
Ali Maschan Moesa, the leader of NU in East Java, referred to a gathering of influential NU ulemas in the Central Java town of Cirebon, in which the ulemas had expressed support for Gus Dur. Ali said that the Cirebon meeting did not represent NU as a whole.
"It was only attended by two noted ulemas who supported Gus Dur. Ulemas who oppose Gus Dur were not invited," Ali said.
NU, the biggest Muslim organization in the country, has long been the backbone of PKB.
Separately, NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi said on Thursday that the push for Gus Dur's candidacy was not related to NU.
"Ask PKB. The clerics did not represent NU," Hasyim replied after attending a seminar on possible chaos leading up to the elections organized by the association of Protestant Intelligentsia (PIKI).
Hasyim is touted to pair with the incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri to contest the presidential election.
Many political parties, especially PKB have tried to win the support of NU which, according to a recent survey by the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), has 58 million members.
In a related development, five PKB supporters were arrested on Thursday for attacking a supporter of the United Development Party (PPP) in the East Java town of Situbondo.
"It's likely that the attack was engineered. It seemed that the police were under pressure from other parties," PKB's Situbondo legal team head Dadang Wijiarto said.
It's not clear why PKB's supporters attacked the man from PPP, who has been identified as Abas Abdul Mughni.
On Wednesday night, hundreds of PPP flags were reportedly missing in Situbondo, while some flags were set on fire by unidentified people.
In Garut, West Java, a truck carrying some 40 PKB supporters overturned in Cintadamai village on Thursday morning, killing one supporter, identified as Hilman Amin, and seriously injuring 10 others.
The supporters were to have attended an activity in Cikajang subdistrict for the first day of the party's campaign.
A witness said one of the truck's wheels had wobbled when it passed a narrow asphalt road, causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle. The truck later plowed into a paddy field.