Gus Dur warns government not to meddle with PKB

Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former president Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid warned the government on Tuesday against meddling in the dispute within his National Awakening Party (PKB).

Gus Dur, chairman of PKB's board of patrons, said the government's decision to delay the disbursement of a Rp 14 billion state fund for his camp could be interpreted as an intervention in the party's affairs.

"If the government does not want to lose its credibility, it should not intervene in PKB's internal affairs," he told reporters.

He was commenting on the government's decision to postpone the disbursement of the state fund for PKB until after the split in the party leadership had been resolved.

The money was part of the Rp 105 billion in state funds allocated for all the 48 political parties contesting the 1999 general elections.

The country's fourth largest party, PKB, has split into two factions -- one led by Gus Dur's close confidante Alwi Shihab, a former foreign affairs minister, and another camp led by the incumbent Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil.

The dispute followed the dismissal of Matori as the PKB chairman by the party's board of patrons after he supported the ousting of Gus Dur from the presidency during the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in July.

Gus Dur said the PKB camp led by Alwi was the only lawful party because his appointment as party chairman was based on party regulations.

"All people know that Matori has no grassroots support. Matori is powerless in the PKB," he asserted.

Despite his dismissal, Matori claimed that he was still the legitimate leader of the PKB and argued that he was elected by the most recent party congress.

His faction held a national party conference here last week, attended by representatives from 24 provincial chapters. However, it was not clear whether the participants were PKB members or not.

Matori's camp also planned to hold an extraordinary national congress to reaffirm his PKB leadership.

Former state minister for women's empowerment Khofifah Indarparawansa, cochairperson of the Alwi-led PKB faction, shrugged off Matori's claims that he was elected by the latest party congress in Surabaya, East Java.

She said the congress did not elect the PKB chairman, but its board of patrons, which then appointed Matori for the party's top post.

"Therefore, Pak Matori cannot claim he was elected by the party congress. He was elected by the party's board of patrons," said Khofifah.

She said the government, the MPR, and the General Election Commission should understand PKB's organizational procedures in electing its chairman.

PKB's internal rift also prompted the MPR, the country's highest legislative body, to leave vacant the post of deputy speaker of the Assembly after Matori was appointed as defense minister.

Both rival camps claim that the position is rightfully theirs.

Khofifah backed Gus Dur's statement, saying the government had no reason to delay the disbursement of the Rp 14 billion fund for her PKB faction.

"If the government does not want to lose its credibility, it should not allow Pak Matori to claim to be the party leader or to use any of the party attributes. The people will respect the government if it asks him to set up new party," she added.