Megawati and Soerjadi should prove popularity
JAKARTA (JP): The two rival leaders of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) were challenged yesterday to prove who has stronger popular support.
Deputy governor of the National Resilience Institute Juwono Sudarsono and observer Novel Ali separately suggested that Megawati Soekarnoputri and Soerjadi seek legitimacy from the grassroots level.
Megawati was elected by popular vote in 1993. Soerjadi was elected PDI chief in a recent government-backed rival congress. Both claim to be the legitimate PDI leader.
Juwono suggested that PDI and the government let party members choose who will become their leader, Soerjadi or Megawati.
He said the best way to end the rift would be if Megawati and Soerjadi reconcile and consolidate the party's leadership.
"The reconciliation should materialize by the end of this month, before the party runs out of time to submit names for their representatives in the House of Representatives," he said.
Meanwhile, Novel Ali proposed that Megawati and Soerjadi hold a showdown in an extraordinary congress, where they can prove who has the greater popular support.
Novel, a political observer from Semarang's Diponegoro University, said at a seminar that the congress would be a good chance for Megawati to prove she has the strong grassroots support.
Novel suggested that Soerjadi, who was elected PDI chief at the June 20-22 government-backed rebel congress, should be involved in the proposed extraordinary parley so the interests of all rival camps could be accommodated.
"Megawati should not bother over whether the government would issue a permit for the gathering, because she has the constitutional right to hold it," he said at the seminar held at Tidar Sakti University in Magelang, Central Java.
Soerjadi should also support the idea for the sake of PDI's integrity, he said. So far, both Megawati and Soerjadi have rigid interpretations of the party's statutes, each claiming to be right.
Megawati has no reason to reject an extraordinary congress, as she has popular support. Soerjadi has the government and military's backing, and has been widely applauded for his success in increasing PDI's seats in the House of Representatives from 40 in the 1987 general election to 56 in 1992, Novel argued.
Arbi Sanit, a political scholar from the University of Indonesia, said that PDI activists are being set against each other and the party's dignity has been insulted.
"PDI activists have the right to stand up and defend their dignity," he said.
Arbi, an activist of the controversial Independent Election Monitoring Committee, warned that the government's meddling in PDI's internal affairs will worsen public resentment.
"If the current political crisis plaguing the PDI is not resolved, it will undermine the nation's political stability and adversely affect political development in general," he said.
The government, he said, has got what it wants: splitting the PDI to weaken it in the lead-up to next year's general election by withdrawing its recognition of Megawati and putting Soerjadi -- her arch rival -- at the forefront.
Sri Bintang Pamungkas, who recently founded his own opposition Indonesian Democratic Union Party, said he is optimistic that Megawati will be able to maintain her leadership until her term of office ends in 1993.
"The moral behind the current PDI crisis is that we should not easily trust anyone," he said.
In Jakarta, pro-democracy lawyers Amartiwi Saleh and R.O. Tambunan demanded yesterday that President Soeharto take action against government officials who meddled in PDI's internal affairs.
"Their action threatens the nation's unity," they said in a letter, a copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post.
They said the rebel congress has been deepening the rift within the PDI instead of resolving it, as the officials initially intended. (pan/har/imn)