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)

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