Megawati barred from 1997 poll
Megawati barred from 1997 poll
JAKARTA (JP): The government made it clear yesterday that
embattled chief of the minority Indonesian Democratic Party
(PDI), Megawati Soekarnoputri, will be barred from next year's
general election.
Minister of Home Affairs, Moch. Yogie S.M., told reporters
yesterday that the legitimate PDI representative for the poll is
Soerjadi's executive board, elected at the government-sponsored
congress last month; a congress which Megawati rejects as
unconstitutional.
"We will only recognize... Soerjadi's leadership. We will only
invite Soerjadi's camp to the institute's meetings," said Yogie
who is also chairman of the General Elections Institute.
He confirmed that the institute would only accept Soerjadi's
preliminary list of PDI legislators, and reject the list that
Megawati's camp is preparing.
The government-funded congress was held in Medan, North
Sumatra, from June 20 to June 22. It elected Soerjadi and some
party dissenters as the party's new executive. Megawati had
previously dismissed the party's dissenters for organizing the
congress.
Yogie yesterday reiterated the government's stance on the
PDI's leadership. "I have told you before," he said to reporters.
"The government recognized Megawati before the congress. Now that
the congress has been held, the government recognizes Soerjadi."
The government signaled yesterday that it would no longer
meddle in the PDI rift, saying the task of finding solutions now
rests with Soerjadi.
Armed Forces (ABRI) Chief, Gen. Feisal Tanjung, said yesterday
that Soerjadi should be able to handle the party's problems on
his own. Separately, Yogie expressed a similar stance.
"This is a PDI internal problem. The Armed Forces won't
interfere in the party's affairs," Feisal said in a press
conference at the House of Representatives.
"The government won't interfere in PDI's internal affairs,"
Yogie said after meeting 36 of the 39 party executives, elected
at the congress, at his office. The other two elected executives
have refused to join the board and have pledged their loyalty to
Megawati. It is not known why the other executives did not
attend.
Only the three sanctioned political groups may contest next
year's general election: the ruling Golkar party, the Moslem-
based United Development Party (PPP) and the PDI.
The three contestants should be busily preparing for the poll.
A number of tasks must be completed by the end of this month.
They must submit their preliminary lists of candidates for the
legislative councils to the General Elections Institute.
Some observers have said that PDI cannot prepare properly for
the polls because of its problems.
Soerjadi has expressed confidence that he can settle the
party's problems on his own, without the government's or
military's help: "We can settle them on our own. PDI should be
able to find the solutions."
He said yesterday that his board would take action against
Megawati and the executives of her board for adamantly claiming
to be the lawful leaders of PDI.
"We'll sanction her," he said, but failed to elaborate except
to say that his people are working on its details.
Feisal yesterday did not deny the allegation that some
military district chiefs had pressured local PDI leaders to
attend the congress.
"There might have been (pressure)," he said.
However, he rejected speculation that ABRI's headquarters had
ordered the "pressure". A Megawati loyalist claims he has
evidence that the military forced PDI branch leaders to
participate in the congress.
Meanwhile, displays of support for Megawati continued in some
cities. One example was hundreds of PDI members demonstrating to
show their support for Megawati outside El Tari Airport in
Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara.
The protesters criticized the government for backing Soerjadi,
and demanded the resignation of their branch chairman, Simon
Hayon, for attending the congress. (imn/pan/yac)
Golkar -- Page 6