Matori officially dismissed from PKB

Matori officially dismissed from PKB

JAKARTA (JP): The executive board of the National Awakening
Party (PKB) officially ditched Matori Abdul Djalil and Abdul
Chalik Ahmad from the party for insubordination.

Matori and Chalik lost not only their jobs as PKB chief and
faction secretary in the House of Representatives respectively
but also had their party membership revoked.

PKB Advisory Council Chairman Abdurrahman Wahid, who himself
has just lost his presidential seat, said that Matori and Chalik
purposely attempted to cause disunity in the party ahead of last
month's People's Consultative Assembly special session, which
fired Abdurrahman.

"Matori and Abdul Chalik violated the party's rules by
attending the Assembly special session. So, the party decided to
revoke their membership," Abdurrahman said.

The PKB, together with the tiny Love the Nation Party (PDKB)
faction, boycotted the session because they considered it
unconstitutional and a ploy to topple Abdurrahman. Matori
insisted, however, that he attended the meetings in his capacity
as deputy speaker of the Assembly. Abdul Chalik backed Matori.

The party also decided to freeze the PKB factions in the House
and Assembly. Abdurrahman then appointed caretaker Minister of
Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab as the party's acting chairman after
Matori. The party is due to hold a national working meeting in
the middle of this month to discuss the possibility of reviving
the factions in the House and Assembly.

Defiant

Matori and Chalik, who were not present at the meeting that
dismissed them, remained defiant. They insisted that legally
speaking they retained their positions and only the national
party congress could fire them.

They vowed they would lodge a protest over their dismissal
with Abdurrahman, the party's Advisory Council chairman, who
chaired Saturday's meeting.

"I am still the party chairman until the congress or special
congress is held to dismiss me. Besides, it was my right to
attend the Assembly special session," Matori told The Jakarta
Post on Saturday.

Matori questioned why it was Abdurrahman who led the meeting.

"After I receive the official letter on my dismissal, I will
see Abdurrahman. Remember he once said that if anybody has their
basic rights abused, they are welcome to take the case to him. It
was my right to attend the Assembly special session," Matori
remarked.

Chalik said in an interview with Radio Elshinta, "I exercised
my rights to express my opinion about the party and I got
fired ..."

Matori said that currently he had yet to think about joining
another political party. When asked about the chances of his
becoming a minister in the new cabinet, he just said: "I do not
want to talk about it now."

His political foes speculate that he failed to toe the party
line because he was eying a position in Megawati's Cabinet. (dja)