Ismail Hasan's support not as solid as it seems

JAKARTA (JP): United Development Party (PPP) Chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum has not secured his re-election despite endorsement from all 27 provincial chapters.

Deputy Secretary General Jusuf Syakir said, during a meeting at Ismail Hasan's residence in Jakarta, the endorsement came from chapter functionaries who did not necessarily represent their respective regions.

"Their endorsements cannot be taken as reflecting the official line of their respective chapters," Jusuf was quoted as saying by the Antara news agency yesterday.

He made the statement to correct the impression created by press reports that Ismail Hasan had secured the support of all the leaders of the 27 provincial chapters.

Jusuf, who acknowledged that it was he who organized the meeting, had been widely criticized by some PPP executives who accused him of engineering the outcome of the election. He declined to respond to the accusation.

The party is slated to elect its chairman at a congress in late August with the incumbent seen as a strong candidate to retain his post despite facing increasing pressures to make way for a more populist figure.

Although there are attempts to unseat him, his opponents within the party could not agree on a single candidate.

Even the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) faction, by far the largest of the four which make up the party, is divided on which candidate to support.

The 27 leaders from the party's 27 provinces who requested last Friday's meeting were either chapter chairmen or their deputies who owe their positions to Ismail Hasan. Most apparently belong to the Muslimin Indonesia (MI) faction to which the incumbent also belongs.

Jusuf said only four chapters have officially stated their support for Ismail Hasan's re-election: Jakarta, Irian Jaya, Jambi and West Nusa Tenggara.

Ismail Hasan, during Friday's meeting, declined to accept the nomination outright, saying the time and place for that should be at the congress. However he stated that he was prepared to accept whatever task the congress may entrust him with.

The election's outcome will be largely determined by the composition of the participants to the PPP congress. The congress' organizing committee has not yet determined who will be invited to attend.

The 27 provincial chapters, mostly controlled by MI faction, only represent part of the delegates. The larger delegates will come from the hundreds of party branch offices at regency level. (emb)