Military-backed IPKI withdraws from PDI

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), still hurting from recent internal leadership struggles, lost one of its five factions yesterday.

IPKI, an organization set up by the Armed Forces (ABRI) in 1954, withdrew from the nationalist Christian alliance, planning to return to its mission as an independent organization, its officials said.

"The 1973 fusion with the PDI hasn't allowed IPKI to develop," said the new IPKI chairman, Soeprapto, when announcing the organization's withdrawal from the smallest of Indonesia's three political parties.

Soeprapto, elected IPKI boss in an IPKI congress last week, is known as a former Jakarta governor and member of the ruling political organization Golkar and Pepabri, an organization of ABRI veterans.

He claimed that he was not under pressure to withdraw the organization from PDI, which is dominated by politicians of the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI) established by former president Sukarno.

IPKI, Soeprapto said, wanted to become an ordinary mass-based organization whose members are free to affiliate with whatever political organization they want.

IPKI was formed on May 20, 1954, by such prominent military figures as A.H. Nasution and Gatot Subroto to safeguard the implementation of the 1945 constitution and state ideology Pancasila.

In the 1971 election, IPKI obtained one seat in the House of Representatives (DPR). When the government "simplified" the political party system in 1973, IPKI allied with Murba, the Catholic Party, the Christian Party and PNI to merge into PDI.

Soeprapto said IPKI joined PDI in 1973 on President Soeharto's advice and the move was supported by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Soeprapto said when some IPKI officials, un-named, approached him to lead the organization, one of his conditions was that it withdraw from PDI and become independent.

He added that he had the endorsement from Pepabri and other various affiliations to lead IPKI.

IPKI's withdrawal will most likely be a blow to PDI, whose consolidation efforts in preparation for the 1997 general election have not gone smoothly.

In the last debacle, the East Java PDI chapter failed to elect a new chairman, provoking the government to intervene. The government refuses to acknowledge PDI chief Megawati Soekarnoputri's appointment of Sucipto as the new boss of the provincial PDI chapter. (pan)