Minister back breakaways to oust PDI chief Megawati

JAKARTA (JP): Senior government ministers and army generals yesterday encouraged dissidents of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) to proceed with their planned congress, in an apparent bid to oust party leader Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Spearheaded by senior legislator Fatimah Achmad, who is also Megawati's deputy, the dissidents had the support of Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M., Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman and Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung.

The officials said the government had no choice other than to support the proposed congress, because most party leaders holding voting rights wanted the meeting.

Yogie said an overwhelming 215 of the total 306 PDI regency branches and 22 of its 27 provincial chapters have asked him for permission to hold a congress.

"In view of that, the government supports the proposed congress," Yogie told reporters before attending a cabinet meeting at the presidential office.

Megawati, a daughter of the late president Sukarno who was elected PDI chief by popular vote in the 1993 extraordinary congress, has rejected the proposed parley on the grounds that it lacks a legal basis.

Popular among the common people, she has the support of her admirers to run in the 1998 presidential election. Observers said the government fears that PDI could use her charisma to attract more voters.

Aberson Marle Sihaloho, an ardent supporter of Megawati, has charged that the current crisis is being engineered by the government to topple her.

Yogie, a former army general, said the congress is expected to end the dragging leadership rift within the PDI, a political party which the government considers a "national asset".

Soesilo said the government supports the proposed congress because it was initiated by PDI activists to resolve their internal bickering.

"It is the constitutional will of the majority. Go ahead. As long as the proposal is in line with the party's statutes," Soesilo said.

Meanwhile, Feisal Tanjung assured the breakaway members that the Armed Forces will provide security at the congress if they go ahead with it.

"It is our job to maintain security," he said.

"With the government's support, we hope the congress will be successful," Fatimah said.

She had earlier said, however, that the planned congress was not meant to unseat Megawati, but rather to give her the opportunity to defend her leadership.

Megawati said yesterday that she preferred not to comment on the plan to convene the congress.

"If I responded to the various stories on the planned congress, I'd fall right into the political scenario that has been prepared for PDI and myself," she told reporters at her home in Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta, yesterday.

Earlier this week, about 50 PDI cadres visited Megawati's home and pledged their loyalty to her, signing their names on a piece of white cloth in blood drawn from their needle-pricked thumbs.

A similar display of loyalty was also undertaken in Semarang, Central Java, imitating the one conducted by some 200 PDI supporters in Surabaya, East Java, on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, a group of PDI senior members criticized the government's stance, pointing out that the endorsement has distracted the party from its preparations for the general elections next year.

Mh. Isnaeni, one of the loyalists, told a press conference that the proposed congress was unlawful and against the party's 1994 statutes.

Isnaeni and nine other senior members, including outspoken legislator Sabam Sirait, declared in 1973 the merger of five nationalist and Christian-based political parties into PDI.

"The government should have rejected the request (for permission for the congress)," he told a press conference.

Also yesterday, Fatimah's camp reported the planned congress to Armed Forces (ABRI) chief of Sociopolitics Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid at the military headquarters.

Syarwan then denied speculation that the Armed Forces had to some extent influenced the dissenting members to hold the congress. "It is impossible to pressure PDI leaders ... as they are clever politicians," he said. (pan/imn)

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