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)