Megawati's camp denies ordering chapter takeovers
Megawati's camp denies ordering chapter takeovers
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) executives
aligned to Megawati Soekarnoputri have denied giving the order
for a series of "takeovers" of party offices in several cities.
Alexander Litaay, secretary-general of the ousted Megawati's
PDI leadership, said yesterday his camp was not involved in
persuading followers to take over the headquarters of party
chapters from supporters of the government-recognized chairman
Soerjadi.
"PDI members' actions to take over the chapter (buildings)
from Soerjadi's supporters were spontaneous," he told The Jakarta
Post.
He said Megawati's faction had never issued an instruction to
its members to regain control of the chapters nationwide.
"It's completely their own initiative and right to retake what
belongs to them, which was stolen in 1996."
Megawati was ousted from the party's leadership and replaced
by Soerjadi in a government-backed congress in June 1996.
Soerjadi's camp has held and maintained use of chapter offices
across the country until the recent actions.
The new government of President B.J. Habibie has so far shown
a more relaxed control of the political climate than that of
former president Soeharto. This has prompted Megawati loyalists
to begin takeovers of offices throughout the country.
The action continued yesterday when about 100 Megawati
supporters took control of the Central Java chapter's building in
Semarang.
"We took control of the PDI chapter building without asking
for the Megawati PDI leadership's consent," said Sutikno,
coordinator of the action.
"We took over the building at the request of Megawati's
Central Java loyalists."
The apparently spontaneous initiatives were inspired by
Megawati's supporters here, who staged a protest in front of the
party headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta early
this month.
They demanded the government return the party headquarters --
site of a violent takeover by Soerjadi followers on July 27, 1996
-- to Megawati's PDI leadership.
The move immediately triggered similar actions nationwide.
About 500 Megawati's supporters peacefully took over the PDI's
North Sumatra chapter headquarters from the pro-Soerjadi faction
in Medan last Saturday.
Their colleagues in South Sumatra followed suit and took
control over the party chapter's headquarters, located just north
of the provincial capital of Palembang, on Monday.
Supporters in Riau province conducted the same action earlier
this week.
Meanwhile, about 200 supporters of the eldest daughter of the
country's first president took over the party's Binjai branch
office in North Sumatra Wednesday.
On the same day, executives of Soerjadi's camp in Yogyakarta
said they were switching their support, effectively dissolving
Soerjadi's representation there and handing over the chapter
office to Megawati's supporters.
The government still recognizes Soerjadi as the party's chief.
An invitation from Habibie to Megawati to meet was rejected
earlier this week. Officials close to her said she refused to
meet the President until the government officially recognized her
as the legitimate chairperson of PDI. (imn/har)