Megawati plans own congress in December
JAKARTA (JP): The ousted leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Megawati Soekarnoputri, said yesterday she would not attend the party congress planned by rival faction leader Soerjadi in June, and would hold her own in December.
"The PDI congress planned for June is not on my political agenda. Mine will be in December," she told reporters at her residence in the Kebagusan subdistrict of South Jakarta.
"I won't attend the congress even if I am invited," she said.
Megawati, the eldest daughter of the late president Sukarno, was responding to Soerjadi's recent remarks that she would be welcomed if she wished to "return to the fold."
Since she was ousted in 1996 at a government-sponsored breakaway congress, Megawati has been waging a legal battle to reclaim her leadership of the party. Last year, she was excluded from the general election after the government only recognized Soerjadi's faction.
"While awaiting my own congress... I'm now more concerned about efforts to help the nation survive the monetary crisis," she said.
"I am not sure if the (rival congress) organizers would be able to meet their deadline as June is fast approaching."
Soerjadi said Tuesday he was optimistic the organizing committee would be able to organize the congress in time.
He refused to name the exact date for the gathering, but mentioned possible venues of Medan in North Sumatra, Pontianak in West Kalimantan, Palangkaraya in Central Kalimantan and Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi.
Some of Megawati's rivals, including deputy chairwoman Clara Sitompoel, strove to bar her from campaigning for the leadership by stating that next chairperson should be one who contested the general elections.
Megawati, however, said she would not be surprised if some parties lobbied her to join the June congress. She said she planned to deflect the overtures by reminding whoever lobbied her of the National Commission on Human Rights' conclusion that Soerjadi's supporters had been given military-like training before they took over the party's headquarters from her supporters on July 27 1996.
PDI Secretary-general Buttu R. Hutapea has admitted that 200 PDI members were provided with such training before they stormed the party's headquarters.
Megawati said she would also ask whoever lobbied her about the whereabouts of some of her supporters reported dead or missing during the forced takeover.
The rights commission reported a month after the incident that five people died, 23 went missing and 149 others were injured during the rioting that erupted after the takeover.
Megawati also said yesterday she would continue to challenge the validity of the 1996 congress results. (imn)