Metareum makes humble last speech at PPP congress

Metareum makes humble last speech at PPP congress

JAKARTA (JP): Ismail Hasan Metareum, making his last speech as
chairman of the United Development Party (PPP), conceded on
Sunday that he had let down his supporters during the last eight
years of his leadership.

In his accountability speech at PPP's congress, Metareum said
that the party leadership had tried to stay firm on various
issues in the past, but, at times, it was powerless in the face
of the powerful government of former president Soeharto.

"We know that the party has disappointed the nation,
especially its followers, for failing to provide an effective
system of checks and balances against the government," he said.

He said that as a minority party, it had not been easy to deal
with the authoritarian government of Soeharto. "It was not even
easy to speak the truth. The party had to tread carefully. Even
the slightest mistake would have been costly to the party, for we
would have been taking huge political risks."

Metareum was elected PPP chairman on two occasions since 1988,
and on both occasions he required the consent of the autocratic
Soeharto to assume the chairmanship.

The party, created in 1973 from the fusion of four Moslem
parties, is holding its congress at the Haj Dormitory in the
Pondok Gede district of East Jakarta.

Topping the agenda is the election of a new chairman to
replace Metareum, who earlier declared that he would not contest
the race.

Among the top contenders for the post are two party elders
currently serving in President B.J. Habibie's cabinet: State
Minister of Food and Horticulture A.M. Saefuddin and State
Minister of Investment Hamzah Haz.

The congress, which winds up on Wednesday, is also expected to
endorse a plan to revert to its old identity as an Islamic party.

Metareum said that the PPP was marginalized by a series of
policies and moves initiated by Soeharto's government.

The party saw its number of votes reduced and its seats in the
House of Representatives cut to 99 in 1977, 94 in 1982 and 61 in
1987. But under Metareum's leadership, the party regained some of
its lost votes during the last two elections, winning 62 seats in
1992 and 89 seats in 1997.

Metareum admitted that he shared some responsibility for the
PPP's decision to repeatedly renominate Soeharto as president,
although he pointed out that he was simply carrying out the
mandate from the party's regional chapters and branches.

"We confess to committing a sin for renominating Soeharto in
March 1998. But it was a collective sin because Soeharto's
renomination came from the majority of the party's chapters," he
said.

Metareum highlighted some of the recent party achievements and
contributions to the current reform movement.

These include eliminating the government requirement that all
political parties adopt Pancasila as their sole ideological
basis, and championing the government program to promote economic
democracy.

Metareum also said that although they eventually lost, the PPP
fought hard to end the automatic representation of the Armed
Forces (ABRI) in the House of Representatives. The People's
Consultative Assembly has, however, agreed to a gradual phase out
of ABRI's sociopolitical role.

Metareum's accountability speech was widely accepted by the
delegates, although a few of them expressed reservations about
parts of the speech.

The Jakarta and North Sulawesi chapters said that the sins
were made collectively by the entire central executive board and
should not be blamed solely on the chairman.

They pointed out that it was the central board that had
invited Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana to
address a party function recently. (rms)