Megawati gets it right with party lineup: Observers

Megawati gets it right with party lineup: Observers

By Imanuddin & M.M.I. Ahyani

DENPASAR (JP): Megawati Soekarnoputri has sidestepped
potential ruptures in her faction of the splintered Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) by appointing all of the right people to
the executive board, according to an American political observer.

Jeffrey A. Winters of Northwestern University in Chicago,
Illinois, told The Jakarta Post during the PDI congress here on
Saturday that the composition of the board to serve through 2003
was the most acceptable to members.

"Megawati has done her best in establishing the party's
executive board," he said of the "special authority" that the
congress accorded Megawati to take "extraordinary measures" to
save the party and seek the best position for it in the national
political constellation.

He cited the inclusion of new recruit Maj. Gen. (ret) Theo
Syafei as one of her deputy chairmen. He believed the move was
meant to cultivate a good relationship with the Armed Forces,
"whose role in political affairs is vital".

Theo joined Megawati's camp only a few weeks before the
opening of the congress last Thursday.

Other new recruits in the executive board lineup included
Hasyim Wahid, the younger brother of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
chairman Abdurrahman Wahid, and businessman Meilono Suwondho.

Winters dismissed the suggestions that the recruitment of new
people would create problems.

On the reappointment of Alexander Litaay as the party's
secretary-general, Winters said it was likely an attempt by
Megawati to avoid any danger of alienating chapters in eastern
Indonesian.

"Alexander Litaay is a PDI official who wins sympathy and
strong support from eastern Indonesian provinces," he said.
Litaay hails from Ambon, Maluku.

Winters also praised Megawati's choice of Mochtar Buchori as
her deputy chairman in charge of educational affairs of the
organization. "Megawati has placed the right man in the right
place."

Mochtar, a former rector of the privately-run Muhammadiyah's
Institute for Teacher Training (IKIP), is a senior lecturer at
Jakarta-based Muhammadiyah University.

A senior PDI member actively participating in the congress,
Frans Seda, also only had praise for Megawati's choices of aides.

"Megawati has accommodated and retained loyal party members in
the party's lineup," Frans, a former finance minister in the New
Order government, told the Post.

"It's not a matter of accommodating activists of the National
Front."

Theo is an activist in the National Front, a group of staunch
government critics.

Meanwhile, PDI's deputy chairman Kwik Kian Gie defended the
congress' decision to grant Megawati complete authority in the
establishment of the executive board.

"Past experiences have proven to us (PDI members) that
Megawati has never committed anything unconstitutional. This (was
among the reasons) for our decision," he said.

Kwik said there was nothing unusual about the members' placing
their full trust in Megawati because a uniting figure was needed
in the crisis.

"We need a figurehead to lead the party while the nation is in
a crisis. In politics, it's common." He said it was untrue that
PDI members had turned Megawati into a cult figure.

Meanwhile, PDI's Jakarta chapter chairman Roy B.B. Janis said
his chapter's members had removed themselves from the running for
the executive board to concentrate on preparations for next
year's general election.

Separately, Meilono said he would be ready to help and work
for Megawati, denying suggestions that he joined the faction only
to further his political interests.

"I have long cared about and sympathized with Megawati,
especially after she lost her PDI leadership in a government-
sponsored congress in 1996," he told reporters.

"And you should not forget that my father, Suwondho, was the
first chairman of PDI's Jakarta chapter, after the establishment
of PDI in 1973." One of Meilono's brothers is Siswono
Yudhohusodo, a former minister of transmigration and official of
the Golkar political grouping.

PDI was established in January 1973 as an amalgamation of five
nationalist and Christian parties.