Mega wins support in PDI-P meet

Mega wins support in PDI-P meet

M. Taufiqurahman and Dwi Atmanta, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

As expected, delegates attending the national congress of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) unanimously accepted on
Tuesday the accountability report of outgoing chairwoman Megawati
Soekarnoputri and renominated her as the only viable candidate to
lead the party for the next five years.

Turning a blind eye to her failure to guide the party to
victory in last year's legislative and presidential elections,
leaders of the provincial branches, who took turns in making
statements, instead put the blame on members of the PDI-P central
board.

"The behavior of some members of the central board, who
criticized and mocked one another, has helped create negative
perceptions among members of the party. This impacted badly on
our party's performance during the elections," leader of the PDI-
P's Central Java provincial chapter, Murdoko, said, echoing
Megawati's own statement during the congress' opening ceremony on
Monday.

Murdoko was apparently referring to the tense arguments
between head of the PDI-P research and development unit, Kwik
Kian Gie, and members of the central board, including Pramono
Anung and Gunawan Wirosarojo, over who made the greatest
contribution to the party's poor showing during the 2004
elections.

Before Murdoko, dozens of PDI-P provincial leaders had made
similar statements and closed their speeches by endorsing
Megawati's candidacy for the party's top post for another five
years.

"She is the only figure than can unify the party right now and
therefore is the only credible candidate to lead the PDI-P for
the next five years. Long live Mega," Ribka Tjiptaning of the
PDI-P's West Java chapter told the plenary meeting

Aside from backing Megawati's candidacy, the PDI-P chapters
agreed to maintain her prerogative of hand-picking the people to
sit on the party's central board.

However, a small number of delegates suggested that her
prerogatives be reduced to issues related to the party's ideology
and the country's sovereignty.

And now, with Megawati more secure than before, the real
contest centers on who will assume the position of the party's
secretary-general.

A number of provincial branches have proposed figures like
Pramono and the present secretary-general, Sutjipto.

In her accountability report, Megawati blamed everything and
everybody except herself for the party's slump in last year's
elections. She said that there had been a communications
breakdown between the party leaders and its political machinery,
and that this had largely contributed to the poor performance.

In her address to the party congress on Monday, she accused
the present government of undermining democracy following the
fuel price hikes, which it said had bypassed the mandatory
consultation with the House of Representatives.

Megawati said the fuel policy had defied the checks and
balances mechanism that requires the government to explain and
discuss its policies with the House.

"The basic procedure has been breached in the decision to
raise fuel prices. We cannot justify the dysfunction of the
democratic mechanism for whatever reason, including a state of
emergency," she said.

Several House legislators from PDI-P and other factions have
demanded that the House form a team of inquiry into possible
violations in the government decision to increase fuel prices.
The government has defended its policy, saying it has gone
through a consultation with the House commissions in charge of
budget and finance.