Megawati Soekarnoputri to petition the President

Megawati Soekarnoputri to petition the President

JAKARTA (JP): Embattled chief of the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI) Megawati Soekarnoputri is going to the top in her
fight against Soerjadi, who ousted her in a government-backed
rebel congress last month.

Megawati is taking her grievance to President Soeharto, in his
capacity as the coordinator of the 1997 general election. It
concerns the General Elections Institute's decision to allow
Soerjadi to draw up a list of PDI candidates for the House of
Representatives and lower provincial legislative councils
elections next year, according to Megawati loyalist Haryanto
Taslam yesterday.

Last week the institute gave Soerjadi's camp the necessary
forms for the procedure, despite Megawati's protests and
statement that she was preparing her own list of candidates.

Haryanto, who is the deputy secretary-general of Megawati's
faction, decried the institute's decision. "What the institute
did was unlawful. We are going to issue notes of protest to
President Soeharto."

A delegation of five members of Soerjadi's board, led by
secretary-general Buttu Hutapea, collected the 850 forms from the
institute last Wednesday.

Haryanto said the institute should not have given the forms to
the delegation as they did not have a mandate from "the
legitimate PDI central board", namely Megawati's board.

Haryanto went to the institute yesterday to pick up the forms,
but returned empty-handed. Yesterday was the last day for the
three political contestants -- the dominant Golkar, the Moslem-
based United Development Party and PDI -- to pick up the forms.

Haryanto was received by deputy spokesman Sumaedi who claimed
that the institute had actually sent a letter to Megawati
requesting that she come and pick up the forms.

"That letter never reached us," Haryanto said.

The government and the military have recognized Soerjadi and
the board set up by the congress as the lawful PDI leaders, and
decided to bar Megawati's faction from taking part in next year's
general election.

Megawati's faction has been holding on to the party's
headquarters on Jalan Diponegoro in Central Jakarta while
Soerjadi and his camp have set up a temporary headquarters at his
official residence on Jalan Denpasar Raya in South Jakarta.
Soerjadi, however, has been using letterheads with Jalan
Diponegoro as his party's address.

Meanwhile, Megawati's younger brother Guruh Soekarnoputra
called on her supporters to continue their "struggle for the
truth, justice and democratization of the party and the country.

"I support Megawati not because she is my sister, but because
of the truth and justice she is fighting for," he said in
Yogyakarta yesterday.

In Jakarta 1,100 Megawati supporters, arriving in two separate
groups, held a noisy demonstration outside the General Elections
Institute building, demanding the government recognize Megawati
and nullify the results of the rebel congress.

Clad in the party's red and black colors, the protesters
demanded the institute withdraw the 850 forms it has given to
Soerjadi's camp.

In Tangerang, some 30 kilometers west of Jakarta, the PDI's
Tangerang regency branch issued a petition supporting Megawati
and rejecting the rebel Medan congress. The PDI branch in
Tangerang mayoralty issued a similar petition on July 7.

Both petitions have been sent to Megawati's headquarters.

Separately, political observer Riswandha Imawan called on the
government and the Armed Forces to handle the PDI crisis with
care for fear of possible threats to the nation as it gears up
for the general election next year.

"Some political opportunists might appear and try to
manipulate the situation for their own interests," he said.
(imn/har/18)