Leader of labor export body defies meeting

JAKARTA (JP): The embattled chief of the Association of Labor Export Companies (Apjati), Mahfudz Djaelani, vowed yesterday to fight any attempts to unseat him.

Mahfudz said he rejected his opponents' ongoing meeting, which was scheduled to elect his successor late last night. He is planning to hold his own meeting next month.

"Let them elect a new chairman but I tell you that the congress is illegal because it was held without the legitimate executive board's consent," he told The Jakarta Post.

"I will run the association as usual," said Mahfudz, who together with his loyalists boycotted the congress.

He said he was certain that if the rebel members did dethrone him, the new executive board would not last long: "The internal bickering is so bad that they will last no more than six months."

He said he did not attend the heavily guarded congress because he wanted to prevent brawls by opposing members of the association.

He claimed that many members were attending the meeting because they were threatened with dismissal if they did not attend.

"They were told they might lose their licenses if they failed to show up," Mahfudz said.

Formed last year to eliminate the chaos affecting Indonesia's labor exports, the association is now split into two opposing camps. The rebel camp is headed by Abdullah Puteh and the other camp by Mahfudz, who is an ally of the organization's advisory council chief Malik Aliun.

Mahfudz's term of office ends in 1998. His opponents, however, are trying to depose him because they say he is incompetent.

Mahfudz refuted the accusation that he failed to make the association's statutes and prepare a financial report. "We made the statutes last year and the members also agreed that the financial report will be in December," he said.

The financial report is being audited by a public accountant, he said. The association has also reported its progress to the Directorate General of Manpower Placement and Development.

The two-day meeting was opened by Minister of Manpower Abdul Latief as a token of the government's support. The event was attended by 118 of the association's 135 members.

Separately yesterday, Latief denied accusations that he had engineered the rebel meeting, saying the meeting was called by most of the association's members.

He said he would swear in the new association chairman. "Let's see if the new chairman is democratically elected," he told reporters.

The rebel meeting was also supported by House member Iskandar Mandji, who insisted that it was "constitutional".

"The government should resolve the conflict otherwise Indonesia's labor exports will be affected," he said.

The association was formed in March last year and is expected to design strategies to expand the market, and devise better legal protection for workers.

Observers say, the internal rift arose because some members wanted to impose their will on others for their own or their group's interests.

They say that many of the association's executives hold their posts simply because of their connection with powerful government officials who have shares in manpower firms. (ste)