'Megawati must be tough on Akbar'

'Megawati must be tough on Akbar'

Yogita Tahil Ramani and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

President Megawati Soekarnoputri skipped the opening ceremony of
Matori Abdul Djalil's National Awakening Party (PKB) congress on
Monday, averting a worsening of the already tense relations
between two rival factions from the Nahdlatul Ulama-based party.

Her absence also spared her from being placed in the same
category as former president Soeharto, who, in his 32 years as
leader, often intervened in the internal affairs of political
parties and purged politicians who challenged his authority.

Matori said Megawati had decided not to open PKB's congress to
allow rival factions -- the Matori and Alwi Shihab camps -- to
mend their fences and reconcile.

"The President told me that for the sake of possible islah
(reconciliation) between the two PKB factions, she would be
skipping the opening of our congress. She also conveyed apologies
for her absence," Matori told over 1,500 participants of the
congress, held at Hotel Borobudur in Central Jakarta.

Megawati's presence at the congress would have been tantamount
to backing Matori's PKB faction, a move that many political
analysts believed would only worsen relations between the two
camps.

Matori said to avoid giving the same impression, Megawati
would not show up either at the PKB national congress of Alwi
Shihab's faction in Yogyakarta from Jan. 17 through Jan. 19.

"I assure you President Megawati will not show up either at
the extraordinary congress held by the other PKB camp (the Alwi
Shihab faction)," Matori said.

Founded in July 1999 with majority support from the Nahdlatul
Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization with over
40 million members, PKB split into two groups in July 2001 after
a faction led by then chairperson Matori Abdul Djalil supported
and attended the Special Session of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR). The session dismissed then president Abdurrahman
"Gus Dur" Wahid, the founder of PKB.

Matori's decision irked most PKB leaders and representatives
in MPR, who immediately sought his expulsion from the party. Gus
Dur, in his capacity as chief of PKB board of patrons, later
fired Matori and installed then foreign minister Alwi Shihab as
the new PKB chairman, resulting in the current dualism in the
party's leadership.

In his opening speech at his three-day congress on Monday,
Matori expressed conviction that his faction was "clearly
respected and accepted by Megawati's leadership."

"They (the Alwi-led PKB camp) downgraded me, but the
government has remained silent. This means that I am respected.
The point here is, let the dogs bark ... (we) will move on,"
Matori told his members.

Amid strong rumors that Matori had pulled out all stops to
lobby military officials and ministers to attend the opening of
his congress, the only minister who did attend the ceremony was
Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi.

Matori's camp claimed that the congress had won the support of
around 300 district chapters from 30 provinces.

Earlier, PKB legislator from the Matori camp Agus Suflihat
Mahmud said that the main purpose of the extraordinary congress
would be to assess Matori's leadership, especially the prelude to
the split of the country's fourth-largest party.

During Monday's opening speech, Matori asked his party members
to evaluate him objectively.

"Did you perceive my presence at the MPR Special Session,
which brought down president Abdurrahman Wahid, as a personal,
ambitious move, or one that reflected my concern for PKB's
welfare and the welfare of our country?"

"If you see that I went beyond our party's guidelines, please
do not hesitate to bring me down."

He also invited members of the Alwi-led PKB camp, like A.S.
Hikam and former defense minister Mahfud MD to join his camp.

The Alwi faction received much-needed support on Sunday when a
group of influential Muslim leaders from Langitan Islamic
Boarding School in Tuban, East Java, pledged their support for
the faction.

Muslim leaders said that most PKB participants remained solid
under the Alwi-Abdurrahman leadership.

NU, which Abdurrahman chaired for years, has quietly placed
its support behind the Alwi-Abdurrahman camp.

NU chairman, Hasyim Muzadi, however, said that he had given up
in his efforts to reconcile the two camps and had let all NU
members who attended choose one of the two.