Naro says PPP performs poorly under Metareum

Naro says PPP performs poorly under Metareum

JAKARTA (JP): H.J. Naro, an aging but flamboyant former
chairman of the United Development Party (PPP), criticized the
leadership of his successor, Ismail Hasan Metareum, yesterday.

Metareum has failed to lead the Moslem-oriented party towards
playing a larger role in Indonesian politics, although he did
manage to suppress the acute internal bickering, he said.

"I will not support his re-election in the forthcoming
congress," said Naro, who heads influential Muslimin Indonesia,
one of the four Moslem organizations that make up the PPP.

Metareum is also from the Muslimin Indonesia's turf. He rose
to the party's chairmanship in 1989 after Naro failed win the
government's backing for his re-election.

Naro said he was optimistic the forthcoming congress would
chose a new leader because Metareum had once assured him he would
not seek re-election.

Naro lost the government's favor after he nominated himself
vice president in 1988, a move which irritated President Soeharto
who already had his own choice.

When he was on the party's helm, his critics described him as
an authoritarian leader who practiced widespread nepotism.
However, in the eyes of his advocates, he was a dynamic
politician who rarely buckled under the government's pressure.

Metareum is widely believed to have the government's
endorsement to retain his post when PPP elects its new board of
executives in August.

Observers say that his leadership style, which stresses
harmony within the party and accommodating the bureaucracy's
will, has won him strong sympathy from the government.

Naro said Metareum had missed numerous opportunities for the
21 year old party to play a more vocal role in the national
politics as its supporters expected.

"What he has done is mostly routine tasks," he said. "Under
what seems to be a harmonious party life are in fact furious
activities to create an elite political group."

Naro, however, said he would readily accept Metareum's re-
election if it was decided in his favor at the August congress.

He said he had a number of figures from all factions within
PPP that were qualified to replace Metareum, such as Aisyah
Aminy, Hartono Mardjono, Matori Abdul Djalil and Mardinsyah.

Strategy

The run-up to the party congress has been dominated by a
fierce power struggle involving politicians from Muslimin
Indonesia and those from Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Indonesia's
largest Moslem organization, who are eager to end MI's domination
in the PPP.

NU scholars will open a controversial meeting in Rembang,
Central Java, tomorrow to discuss their strategy to win the
battle for party leadership.

Naro played down news that the powerful Armed Forces (ABRI)
has lent its support to NU, as seen in the visit of ABRI
Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung to an ulemas gathering in East Java
earlier this month.

"I have personally checked it with General Feisal and he said
the news is no more than speculation," he said.

He said he hoped that the Rembang gathering, which has
received security assurances from ABRI, would come up with a
concrete plan and a nominee.

"I strongly believe the ulemas have good intentions and will
contribute their ideas to develop PPP," he said. (pan)