Megawati vows to keep on fighting
JAKARTA (JP): The beleaguered Megawati Soekarnoputri vowed to keep defending her position as the legitimate chief of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
"We have set sail and the boat will cruise. There is no turning back," Megawati said yesterday while opening an extraordinary conference of the PDI Jakarta chapter.
The PDI leadership has been in crisis since breakaway party leaders elected Soerjadi as the party chairman in a much- criticized, government-backed congress in Medan, North Sumatra, last month.
The government has recognized Soerjadi as the party's new leader and barred Megawati from representing the party at next year's election. Megawati was elected chairperson of the party by popular vote, and her leadership still retains strong grassroots' support.
The Megawati camp has been demanding that the government withdraw its recognition of the Medan congress and stop meddling in the party's internal affairs.
She said the government has trampled on the PDI's dignity by recognizing the unconstitutional congress. "Defending the legitimate leadership is an honor," she said.
What the PDI members really need is a leader who can accommodate their aspirations, not one who counts on an external force, she said.
She said the PDI chapters in the regencies should hold conferences to consolidate her leadership and prepare for next year's election.
President Soeharto called on PDI executives last week to consolidate and put an end to their conflict.
Minister/State Secretary Moerdiono said that President Soeharto would meet Soerjadi only if he was able to make peace with Megawati's camp.
Under Indonesian political tradition, an audience with the President means that the government has endorsed the elected leadership of a particular organization.
"President Soeharto will receive the new PDI central board only if the party leadership consolidates," Moerdiono quoted Soeharto as saying last week.
Megawati has filed a multi-billion dollar lawsuit against her opponents and some government officials for endorsing the rebel congress.
A lawyer representing Megawati, Dimyati Hartono, said at a press conference yesterday that a referendum was the best way to solve the party's crisis: "The dispute on PDI's dual leadership will reach a deadlock if the opposing camps claim they have their own leader."
He said that the PDI was not a government institution, so the decision to settle the party's dispute should be left to its members.
"Let the PDI members decide who their leader is," he said. "I suggest that PDI conduct a referendum allowing its members to chose their leader."
"If Megawati gets more votes than Soerjadi in the referendum, Soerjadi has to accept it, and the other way around," he said.
Contesting some observers' doubts that it would take a long time to hold a referendum, Dimyati guaranteed that a referendum could be completed within two weeks.
"With the help of sophisticated communication technology, I guarantee that the referendum will take no longer than two weeks," he said.
He said, however, that the decision to hold a referendum would depend on the political will of the two opposing camps, as well as that of the government.
Meanwhile, about three thousand Megawati supporters stretched a 500-meter long banner containing their signatures along Jl. Proklamasi in Central Jakarta yesterday afternoon.
The supporters, singing and shouting support for Megawati, then took the banner to the Taman Ismail Marzuki Art and Exhibition center before moving to the PDI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, where the procession ended.
Three of Megawati's party executives, Alexander Litaay, Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno and Haryanto Taslam, said they would reject Soerjadi's offer to nominate them for the preliminary list of PDI candidates for next year's election. (imn)