Missing PDI leaders says he was abducted by rebels

Missing PDI leaders says he was abducted by rebels

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Secretary
General Alexander Litaay finally made a public appearance
yesterday to reaffirm his allegiance to the party leadership of
Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Alex had been "in hiding" for four days after party rebel
Jusuf Merukh made a shock claim that the secretary general had
defected to his camp last week.

"My commitment to PDI and Megawati has not changed since I was
installed with other party executives on Dec. 23, 1993," Litaay
told a press conference at his residence.

He spent about seven hours with Megawati yesterday, from 5:15
a.m. onwards, to explain his "disappearance" to her, pledge his
allegiance and discuss the party's strategies for the future.

Alex, who's account was backed up by several senior PDI
officials, claimed the he had been abducted by rebel party
activists and forced to sign a statement that he had joined the
rival camp under Jusuf. He declined to give names, however.

Last week, Megawati gave Alex 10 days to appear and provide an
explanation, amid confusing speculation surrounding his alleged
defection which had deepened the crisis within the rift-ridden
minority party.

On Saturday, Megawati threatened Jusuf with expulsion for his
recent move to establish a rival board, challenging her
leadership.

"He (Jusuf Merukh) will be treated in accordance with the
party's constitution," she told reporters after swearing in the
chiefs of the party's departments at party headquarters.

Legislator Sophan Sophiaan, who attended the ceremony, said
that under the party's constitution, Jusuf would firstly be given
a warning.

"If the warning is ignored, he will be banned from political
activity for 10 days. And if that punishment proves ineffective
he will be expelled from the party," he said.

Gery Mbatemooy and Latief Pudjosakti, two other senior party
members opposing Megawati's leadership, were expelled from the
party early this month following acts of insubordination towards
the official executive board.

Gery was dismissed for announcing the establishment of the
rival board, while Latief was discharged for rejecting the
central board's policies.

Jusuf Merukh in a meeting on Wednesday in Bogor, West Java,
told the press that Alex had made a statement supporting the
establishment of the rival board and that he had been appointed
one of its deputies.

Megawati, was elected PDI party chairman in December 1993 by a
party congress in Surabaya, East Java, to replace former chairman
Soerjadi. She expressed her deep concern on Saturday over the
internal conflicts that have beset the party.

"Both executive board members and all the members are -- not
shocked -- but deeply concerned over what is happening to the
party," she said.

"All this constitutes a process of struggles and
crystallization plaguing not only the party but also the nation
in general," she said.

Megawati, the eldest daughter of the late former president
Sukarno, said that it was not the first time the party had been
rocked by "big waves," and she believed all of them could be
ridden out over time.

Single majority

Meanwhile, PDI Deputy chairperson Aberson Marle Sihaloho
accused the government and the Armed Forces of having engineered
the internal problems hitting the PDI and the largest Moslem
organization Nadhlatul Ulama (NU) as part of an effort to ensure
a single majority for the ruling Golkar party in the 1997 general
election.

"The NU leadership crisis and the Alex case are only the
phenomena, or the smallest aspects of the major problem, which is
government intervention," he told reporters when asked for his
views on the party's internal problems.

"The government is destroying the (minority) political parties
to pave the way for the ruling Golkar to gain a single majority
in the next general elections," he said.

Speaking about Alex, he said that the party secretary general
had been abducted by Jusuf's men and military officers and had
been forced to make a statement saying he had defected to Jusuf's
camp and that he supported the rival board's establishment.

He said that while he was being abducted by Jusuf's men on
Wednesday night, Alex had made contact with Sabam Sirait, a
senior party member, and told him that he was being forced to
sign a statement the contents of which were unknown to him.(rms)