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)