Megawati offered peace deal

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)