Megawati still in charge, government says

Megawati still in charge, government says

JAKARTA (JP): The government yesterday refused to be drawn
into the latest internal conflict of the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI), and stressed it still regards Megawati Soekarnoputri
as the chairperson of the party.

Responding to questions about the emergence of a rival PDI
executive board, chaired by Yusuf Merukh, Director General for
Social and Political Affairs at the Ministry of Home Affairs said
the government still recognizes the board led by Megawati.

"That's perfectly clear. The government sees it in legal
terms," Sutoyo said, Antara reported yesterday.

Sutoyo maintained that the establishment of a rival board was
the problem of PDI to solve. Megawati, he added, should be able
to resolve the problem without resorting to help from the
government.

"My advice to them is that they should communicate. They
should show wisdom and deliberate to end the problem. Our
political culture dictates it this way."

He added that it has always been the policy of the government
to keep its hands off the affairs of the political parties.

Sutoyo expressed his surprise that the party had remained
divided, recalling that the election of Megawati as the party
chairperson in December 1993 was thought to have ended the
bickering within the party once and for all.

The formation of the rival board was announced last week by
Gerry Mbatemooy, who had earlier been expelled by Megawati from
her executive board for failing to fall in line in a number of
internal disputes within PDI.

Gerry said he had taken the measure to save the party which he
said was endangered by the infiltration of former communists.

The communist allegations came after the West Java Military
command announced two weeks ago that the chairman of the local
chapter of PDI is strongly suspected to have past communist
links.

Yusuf Merukh, a senior PDI politician known to have agitated
previous PDI leaders, was quick to accept the offer to chair the
rival board and alleges that there are at least 400 former
communists holding ranks within the party.

Most of the other figures named onto the board said they were
never consulted before the appointment and were waiting to hear
for a formal explanation before making their positions known.

Conflicts between the two boards will likely occur today as
they fight for the right to occupy the party's headquarters in
Jl. Diponegoro after the long New Year's holiday.

The office was all quiet yesterday with a notice posted,
signed by Megawati's Secretary General Alex Litaay, that it will
reopen today.

In anticipation of further trouble at the PDI headquarters,
the United Development Party, whose headquarters lie adjacent to
that of PDI, was erecting a brick barrier yesterday to divide the
common parking lot in front of their offices.

The PDI headquarters have been the target of a number of
demonstrations in recent weeks held by members disgruntled by the
leadership of Megawati.

A noted political observer said yesterday that the government
should not give support of any kind to the rival PDI executive
board because it would simply muddle the situation.

Afan Gaffar of the Gadjah Mada University said the rival board
would simply fade away with time because it lacked grass roots
support, that is "unless it gets outside support."

He said the establishment of the rival board was an unwelcome
development for Indonesian politics because it got in the way of
the party's efforts to consolidate in the run up to the 1997
election.

President Soeharto, in his end of the year speech, expressed
his concern that some parties are having problems in their
consolidation efforts, Afan said.(emb)