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)