Hamzah's trips not political

PEKALONGAN, Central Java: Vice President Hamzah Haz, who is still chairman of the United Development Party (PPP), said here on Friday that his trips to the regions had nothing to do with party politics.

"My visits to the regions are not part of the party's expansion program. The visits are part of the (national) reconciliation program," he was quoted by Antara as saying here.

Hamzah, accompanied by State Minister for State Administrative Reform Faisal Tamin and Central Java Governor Maryanto, stressed that there was not and would not be any intention on his part to persuade or force anybody to cast their vote for the PPP at the next general election.

"I will not encourage or force anybody to vote for the PPP. Everybody has the right to determine his or her own choice," he stressed.

Hamzah, who almost always meets PPP party executives and workers during his visits, was responding to critics who alleged he was using the visits to benefit his party, including promoting the incorporation of the Jakarta Charter into the 1945 Constitution.

The PPP came third in the last general election after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Golkar Party. (02)