Matori makes scathing attack on PPP leader

Matori makes scathing attack on PPP leader

JAKARTA (JP): United Development Party (PPP) Secretary General
Matori Abdul Djalil -- with an eye on the party leadership --
made a scathing attack yesterday on incumbent chairman Ismail
Hasan Metareum, saying that the party's poor showing in the last
election was attributed to the leadership.

Matori told a press conference that the party would continue
to lose its supporters if it maintained its current strategy.

The strategy applied by the present board of executives under
Ismail Hasan Metareum had failed to significantly raise PPP's
standing in the 1992 general election, he said.

"It's possible that PPP will become history if it doesn't keep
its house in order," he said at a press conference held after he
treated journalists to a luncheon at the Pulau Dua restaurant.

Matori formally announced his intention to run for the
leadership election yesterday, to be held at the party's congress
which begins on Aug. 28.

He said he had the support of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
faction.

Leaders of NU, the largest of the four Islamic factions in the
PPP, have not formally named their choice of candidates for the
PPP leadership. Besides Matori, other NU figures who are known to
aspire to the PPP top post include legislator Hamzah Haz, senior
NU politician Yusuf Hasyim and Karmani, chairman of the PPP's
Central Java executive board.

However, the incumbent chairman Ismail Hasan, who hails from
the Muslimin Indonesia faction, appears to have the upper hand
with support from the leaders of most of the party's regional
boards, who will also make up the bulk of the congress
participants.

Record high

The run-up of the party congress has been dominated by a
fierce power struggle involving politicians from MI and those
from NU. The post of secretary general has been traditionally
reserved for an NU figure in compensation for allowing MI to
retain the chairmanship.

Matori, who is also a member of the House of Representatives
(DPR), said he was determined to take the party leadership
because of his concern over the PPP's poor performance in the
last three elections.

PPP's DPR seats reached a record high of 94 under the duo
president of Idam Chalid and chairman Mintaredja in 1982 but
under the flamboyant H.J. Naro, they nose dived to 60 after the
1987 election.

Under Ismail Hasan, the party's performance improved slightly
in 1992 by adding one extra seat.

However, this pales in comparison to the 16 seats gained after
the last election by the Indonesian Democratic Party.

PDI's rising popularity has worried many PPP figures who think
that the 1997 general election will demote PPP to third place.
The party has come a distant second to Golkar in the last five
elections.

With the PPP leadership election less than two weeks away,
Matori now appeared to try to distance himself from Ismail Hasan.

Critics of the party leadership say that Matori and Ismail
Hasan do not make good enough partners.

The two are acclaimed for their ability to suppress the
notorious factional bickering within the party but their apparent
lack of coordination has resulted in failure to improve the
party's standing, the critics say.

Worried

Matori said he was worried that many more PPP's supporters
would cross to either PDI or Golkar if the party did not change
its tactics in the upcoming election. "PPP must be made a
convenient home to its supporters," Matori said.

He lamented PPP leaders who put the interests of their
factions above those of the party. "They should be aware that the
party will succeed only if all the factions team up," he said.

PPP is an amalgam of four Moslem organizations: NU, MI, Perti
and PSII.

In Matori's opinion, PPP has to play a more active role as a
prime mover of democratization and an agent of development. "The
government should ease its grip on political organizations so
that they can function independently," he said.

He declined to comment if he had the backing of the government
for his election bid, but said he had the endorsement of ulemas
in the provinces.

He also refused to say anything about his chances of winning
the chairmanship race, arguing that it was up to congress
participants to decide who should lead PPP. (pan)