Gus Dur's PKB blames opponents for split
The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta/Jakarta
The National Awakening Party (PKB) accused former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid's opponents on Friday of stage- managing its internal rift in order to weaken the fourth biggest party in the House of Representatives.
Gus Dur was toppled from the presidency last July by a coalition of major political parties spearheaded by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and Golkar Party.
His ouster led to the split of PKB into two factions after he sacked his former confidante Matori Abdul Djalil as his party chairman and appointed former foreign affairs minister Alwi Shihab to replace him.
Matori was dismissed for supporting the impeachment of Gus Dur that also brought the then vice president and PDI Perjuangan chairwoman, Megawati Soekarnoputri, to the presidency.
Megawati appointed Matori as defense minister in her cabinet apparently in return for his support and to protect him from being embarrassed or sidelined by Gus Dur's allies in PKB.
Khofifah Indar Parawansa, a co-chairperson of Gus Dur's PKB camp, said that Matori's backers played a key role in breaking up the party founded by the country's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
"I hope that Pak Matori will soon realize that he is acting as the puppet of PKB opponents," she said, apparently referring to PDI Perjuangan and Golkar.
PKB managed to secure the fourth highest number of seats in the 1999 election although it had only been established a few months before the polls. Most of its voters were NU supporters in Java.
The rift within the PKB has heightened since Matori's faction insisted on holding a congress next week in Jakarta, while Alwi Shihab's camp will hold a separate congress in Yogyakarta.
Matori claims to have won support from the government and said Megawati would attend a PKB congress of his faction, even though the plan has been denied by his rivals.
However, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno hinted on Friday that Megawati or cabinet ministers could attend Matori's congress on Jan. 14-16 despite the internal dispute within the PKB.
"There is no law prohibiting top officials from attending such an event," he was quoted by Antara as saying.
Hari refused to comment on the government's stance on the PKB rift, saying every political party is regarded as independent and the government will not intervene in its affairs.
Matori has been given a chance to reconcile with the Alwi-led PKB faction should he be ready to attend its Jan. 16-19 congress in Yogyakarta, where he has to clarify his stance on his support for Gus Dur's ouster.
Alwi expressed his optimism on Friday that he and Matori would soon reunite in the PKB, although the NU said it has given up its attempts to bring them back together again.
"If we are like a group of people who are stuck in a dark cave, we are now reaching a point from where the bright light of reconciliation is seen. There is already a light between us for reconciliation," Alwi told reporters in Yogyakarta.
However, he did not elaborate further what new progress toward reconciliation has been achieved.