New PPP leadership board already beset by dissension
JAKARTA (JP): Barely three days since his re-election, United Development Party (PPP) chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum is already being forced to move to contain dissension within his newly formed executive board.
A prominent leader from Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the largest faction in the PPP, has declined his appointment in the advisory board, while another has signaled he is not happy because he was never consulted in the first place.
Ismail Hasan, who hails from the Muslimin Indonesia (MI), while lamenting their decision, said on Saturday that he will not be deterred by their resignation threats.
"We asked Syansuri Badawi to sit in the advisory board. But if he wants to withdraw, that is up to him. I wouldn't want to comment further," he was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying.
Syansuri Badawi, a senior NU ulema, was a member of the seven- man electoral council led by Ismail Hasan to name the new line-up of PPP's central executive board.
However, he and another NU leader, Matori Abdul Djalil, walked out of the council in protest and disagreement over the line-up of the board. They did not endorse it, although the congress later did when the names were presented.
The 21-strong executive board still consists of seven NU leaders, including Tosari Widjaja, who was named secretary general, considered to be the second most important job in the party leadership. Syansuri was named into the advisory board, as was Jusuf Hasjim, a respected NU ulema.
Jusuf has also said that he might decline the offer to sit on the largely ceremonial board, stressing that he was never consulted or formally offered the position.
Ismail Hasan said he would not plead with those who threaten to resign, but is appealing to their sense of responsibility toward the party. "This is a question of fighting for the party."
He pointed out that Syansuri was already a member of the board and that the appointment last Thursday was simply a continuation. For that reason, he said he did not feel obliged to ask.
Exaggerated
He also said that he strongly believed that the division in the party, especially between NU and MI, has been exaggerated by the press and political observers.
NU, MI and the other two factions, Syarikat Indonesia and Perti, founded the party, he said. Organization-wise, there is no problem, although there might be problems with some individual figures.
The most scathing attack against Ismail Hasan came from NU chairman Abdurrahman Wahid, who said that the new board is filled with a bunch of "elitists lacking grassroots support".
Abdurrahman warned that young PPP supporters might abandon the party in the 1997 election and cast their votes instead for the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
Responding to Abdurrahman's accusation that the board's line- up comprises a bunch of elitists lacking grassroots support, Ismail Hasan said he believes he has the grassroots supports, "for otherwise, the NU delegates wouldn't have voted me in".
Before the congress began, many party insiders and outsiders warned that PPP could be relegated to third and last position in the 1997 election unless it chose a more popular figure to match Megawati Soekarnoputri, the daughter of former president Sukarno, who now leads the PDI.
PPP has come a distant second after the military-backed Golkar in the last four elections. In 1992, it had 17 percent of the votes, compared to Golkar's 68 percent and PDI's 15 percent. (emb)