Ismail Hasan in war of words with Abdurrahman

Ismail Hasan in war of words with Abdurrahman

JAKARTA (JP): United Development Party (PPP) Chairman Ismail
Hasan Metareum yesterday dismissed suggestions that his party
stands to lose many of its traditional supporters if he is
reelected at a congress next month.

However, Ismail Hasan warned Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman
Abdurrahman Wahid who made the suggestion, not to drive party
supporters away if he did get reelected.

"He's clever, as if he knows precisely what will happen," he
said sarcastically. "Other kyais (elder Islamic leaders) would
have said `God willing', but he is so confident that PPP
supporters will turn to the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) or
boycott the election. That's what I call smart."

NU is the largest of the four factions in the PPP but none of
its members had ever chaired the party. With the leadership
election now approaching, many NU politicians say they are
determined to wrest the chairmanship from Ismail Hasan, who hails
from the Muslimin Indonesia (MI) faction.

PPP is scheduled to stage its congress in late August during
which the chairmanship election will be held.

Abdurrahman said on Monday that many PPP supporters would turn
to the PDI in the 1997 election if Ismail Hasan stays at the helm
after next month's congress.

He also said that Matori Abdul Jalil, currently the PPP
secretary general who hails from NU, could win the leadership if
next month's election is free of government interference.

Response

Ismail Hasan, responding to these remarks, said yesterday that
it was typical of Abdurrahman to make statements with carefully
selected words to scare people off.

He added, however, that Abdurrahman must refrain from this
sort of thing if his candidate does not get elected. "Let's not
harm the party. That's all I'm asking. Sure, you can tickle the
party, why not. We are both old and mature enough."

"Sure you can speculate, but don't order people (to abandon
the party)," he added.

Ismail Hasan himself is currently the leading candidate to
retain the chairmanship, having clinched the support of most of
the party's provincial board leaders and, reportedly, the tacit
backing of the government and the Armed Forces (ABRI).

His nearest contenders are Matori and Jusuf Hasjim, a senior
NU politician.

Ismail Hasan described his involvement in the PPP as a
"religious duty" and that he is doing this solely for "God's
reward". He added that he had no other ambition besides that.

"That's my principle. If I crave for the leadership, that
means I won't get God's reward."

He also stressed that PPP has secured the money needed to
finance the congress, which is originally estimated at Rp 1.5
billion ($692,000) but declined to say where it is coming from.

The government has pledged to help the party raise the funds
to make sure that the congress can proceed. (emb)