Hamzah fires top party members amid conflict
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The United Development Party (PPP) has dismissed six top executives for their involvement in an informal meeting last week, which the central board said was an act of betrayal.
A central board decree signed by party leader Hamzah Haz terminates the membership of deputy chairmen Suryadharma Ali, Zarkasih Nur, Andi Ghalib and Lukman Hakim Saefuddin and deputies secretary-general Emron Pangkapi and Ermalena, Antara reported.
The decree came into effect on Tuesday, the day it was signed.
The party's chief of organizational affairs Djuhad Mahja said on Wednesday the tough measure was unanimously agreed to during a top executive meeting at the party headquarters on Tuesday by Hamzah, secretary-general Yunus Yosfiah, deputy leader Alimarwan Hanan and secretary for organizational affairs Rahman Syagaff.
Djuhad said the party got tough with the six organizers of the meeting because they had been notified beforehand that they would risk a dismissal if they held the gathering.
Over 700 party members from across the country participated in the event on Feb. 24 and Feb. 25 here, which concluded with demands for sweeping reforms and a congress at the end of this year. The next PPP congress is scheduled for 2007.
The party central board deemed the meeting was a move that would lead to a coup against Hamzah, who the supporters of the informal meeting said had failed to help the party perform well in the elections last year.
The PPP's popular vote declined in the latest legislative election in 2004, compared to that won in 1999.
Hamzah was also widely criticized for defying the wishes of his party rank-and-file by supporting Megawati Soekarnoputri in the presidential election run-off last September instead of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Susilo appointed PPP members Suryadharma and Bachtiar Chamsyah, who are known Hamzah critics, to his Cabinet. The two have been touted as the strongest contenders for the party's top post if a congress is held this year.
Djuhad would not elaborate whether other prominent participants of the informal meeting like Bachtiar, House of Representatives legislators Aisyah Amini and Barlianta Harahap would also be shown the door.
Commenting on the dismissal, Usamah Hisyam, the secretary- general of Parmusi, a faction in the PPP, said the decision violated the party's statute and internal rules.
"We condemn the dismissal. It demonstrates the arrogance of the central board and their disdain of the PPP's struggle as a (democratic) Muslim party," said Usamah, who helped organize the informal meeting.
He warned that the dismissal would spark an internal conflict within the party.
Internal feuding has plagued the Muslim-based party following the fall of the New Order in 1998. During the authoritarian regime the PPP was one of only three parties allowed to contest the elections. Like the other two -- Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party -- PPP always supported the reelection of then president Soeharto.
The party was split later in 1998 after a group of members declared a new party under the leadership of renowned cleric Zainuddin M, which later became the Star Reform Party (PBR).