Gus Dur refuses to help mediate in PDI dispute

Gus Dur refuses to help mediate in PDI dispute

JAKARTA (JP): Budi Hardjono, the new chief of the government-
recognized faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI),
failed on Tuesday to enlist Moslem scholar Abdurrahman Wahid to
mediate in the party's protracted leadership dispute.

In a surprise visit lasting four hours to Abdurrahman at his
residence, Budi asked the chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
Moslem organization to help solve the conflict. Abdurrahman, who
has repeatedly expressed support for popular ousted PDI leader
Megawati Soekarnoputri, refused.

"Pak Budi Hardjono just left my house. He discussed the
general affairs of PDI with me," said Abdurrahman, who is better
known as Gus Dur.

"He also asked me to become a mediator in PDI's leadership
dispute." He added he did not dare to accept the request because
Megawati had not given her prior approval.

"I telephoned her on Monday evening regarding Pak Budi's plan
to ask me to become a mediator. She did not authorize me to do
so."

Abdurrahman and Megawati are understood to share close ties,
especially after the latter's election as PDI chairwoman in a
December 1993 congress in Surabaya.

The following year the eldest daughter of the late president
Sukarno attended an NU congress in Tasikmalaya, West Java, in
which Abdurrahman was reelected as the organization's chairman
for a third consecutive term.

Megawati was unseated from her party's leadership in a
government-sponsored 1996 congress in Medan, North Sumatra. She
was replaced by Soerjadi, who led the party until late last month
when Budi was elected chairman in an extraordinary party congress
in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu.

Abdurrahman doubted the two PDI leaders could reconcile if the
initiative came from Budi alone.

"Reconciliation will only be successful if both conflicting
factions really want it," he said.

The government recognized Budi as Soerjadi's legitimate
successor following the Palu congress.

Abdurrahman said he did not know Megawati's stance on the
leadership dispute and would not ask for it directly.

"I do not know. It is a matter of principle... that I have
never and will never ask Megawati about it."

Budi said he was not disappointed by Abdurrahman's rejection.

"I must say I'm really grateful that Gus Dur was willing to
accept me as an old friend of his," he said.

"Should the reconciliation meet a dead end, I hope that PDI
members and the people in general could respect differences of
opinions between me and Megawati."

He believed any differences of opinion would not jeopardize
the nation's unity.

"Having different opinions from others is natural," he said.
(imn)