Megawati rejects reconciliation dialog offer
Megawati rejects reconciliation dialog offer
JAKARTA (JP): Ousted Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) leader, Megawati Soekarnoputri, was dismissive of an initiative by the Soerjadi-led rival faction to hold a dialog to settle their dispute.
Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, a Megawati's loyalists, said over the weekend that Soerjadi had no legal basis for proposing such a dialog.
"Could he (Soerjadi) tell us his grounds for proposing such a (reconciliatory gesture) and in what capacity was he speaking when he made that offer?" Soetardjo asked The Jakarta Post.
Soetardjo was responding to a statement made Friday by Soerjadi loyalist Buttu R. Hutapea, who offered a reconciliation to the Megawati faction. Buttu is secretary-general of the PDI faction under Soerjadi.
Buttu said a national dialog between the factions could help the party reach some compromise before next year's congress. The party will elect its next chairperson at the congress.
The Soerjadi faction has announced plans to hold the congress in June, while Megawati wants it in December. Buttu said the date for a joint-congress could be negotiated during the dialog.
Soetardjo said the initiative for the dialog should have come from the government and that his side would only hold discussions with the government.
"Otherwise the dialogs will cause controversy among PDI members," he said.
He said the government had the authority to endorse a PDI congress and its results.
Soerjadi was reinstated party chairman in place of Megawati in a government-backed breakaway congress in the North Sumatra capital of Medan in June last year. Megawati was elected party chairwoman by popular support in an extraordinary congress in December 1993.
Megawati has been waging a legal battle against Soerjadi and the government since then.
The rift between the two factions widened with the violent take over of the party's headquarters, which sparked bloody riots on July 27 last year. The riots left at least five people dead and 23 missing.
Cooperation
Political observer Muhammad A.S. Hikam said Megawati should respond positively to the offer or the long-awaited reconciliation would not happen.
"She (Megawati) must know that the rival faction has started to understand that without popular support they can only play a peripheral role in national politics," Hikam said.
He was referring to PDI's poor showing in the May 29 general election. The minority party won only 11 of the 425 House of Representatives seats.
"Soerjadi now has nothing left but legitimacy (as chairman of the party) from the government," he said.
But Soerjadi and the government would have to realize that recognizing Megawati's claim to be party chairwoman was an inevitable prerequisite for a reconciliation.
"Without it, dialogs will only lead to a deadlock," Hikam said.
"On the other hand, Megawati should guarantee that her reinstatement will not cause new groupings within the party," he said.
He said the government had nothing to lose by returning Megawati to the party's helm, because the ongoing internal conflict within PDI has emerged as being due to a ploy by certain people in the country's political elite.
"The government in general, and even President Soeharto, certainly understand that without Megawati, empowering PDI is a mere dream," he said.
PDI was born in 1973 out of a merger of five former Nationalist and Christian political parties -- the Indonesian Nationalist Party, the Murba Party, the Independence Vanguard Party, the Indonesian Catholic Party and the Christian Party.
The party has frequently been troubled by leadership disputes. (imn/amd)