Megawati offered peace deal

JAKARTA: The government has offered the ousted chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Megawati Soekarnoputri, an out-of-court settlement in her lawsuit against the authorities' rejection of her prospective legislators' list.

Representatives of Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie SM and the National Election Committee asked Megawati's lawyers in court yesterday to agree to one of the judges' proposal to solve the dispute amicably.

The request was made after Judge Suhardjo read the lawsuit and voiced the idea.

The judge adjourned the hearing until Nov. 27 to give the two parties a chance to reach a consensus after R. O. Tambunan, Megawati's chief representative, said he had no objection to an out-of-court settlement.

Tambunan said after the hearing it was not clear how the dispute would be solved out of court.

"For the PDI everything is clear: all the 900 prospective candidates submitted to the Election Committee must be accepted," he said.

In September, the government rejected Megawati's list of candidates for the House of Representatives who would contest next year's general elections. On the other hand, it accepted the list submitted by the officially-backed PDI group under the leadership of Soerjadi. (08)