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.