Nothing wrong with promoting Islamic law, PPP insists
Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Vice President Hamzah Haz's Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP) questioned on Monday a splinter group's move to exploit ideology as its reason for breaking away from the party.
A PPP official said the party's proposal to include the imposition of syariah (Muslim law) in the 1945 Constitution had been accepted by all of its leaders and members so that the issue should not have been used as an excuse for breaking away.
Aisyah Aminy, a senior PPP legislator, argued that syariah was no longer an issue in the country's third largest party.
"There is no objection (from PPP members) to the proposal to include Islamic law in the Constitution," she told The Jakarta Post.
The looming split has been caused mainly by the demand by a splinter group spearheaded by preacher Zainuddin MZ for a leadership change in the PPP ahead of the 2004 general election, she added.
Aisyah said Zainuddin and his supporters had never opposed the PPP's decision to propose the recognition of syariah in the Constitution.
On Monday,the PPP's Jakarta provincial chapter chairman Djafar Bajeber, one of Zainuddin's allies, said that apart from a dispute over the party's next leadership congress, the conflict was also due to differences over principle between Hamzah and party members.
The differences included Hamzah's move to push for the promotion of Islamic law to lure conservative Muslim voters to the party in 2004.
The rival faction has decided to announce the establishment of PPP Reformasi (reform) on Jan. 27, with Zainuddin as its chairman.
The plan follows Hamzah's refusal to heed the faction's demand for the PPP to hold a national leadership congress in 2003 as scheduled. The party has decided to postpone its congress until after the 2004 elections.
The splinter camp accused Hamzah of trying to retain the leadership of the PPP by delaying the congress in violation of the party's constitution.
"How will a party be able to uphold the law if it breaks its own rules," Zainal Maarif, PPP Central Java branch deputy chairman, told the Post.
He charged that the PPP under Hamzah has betrayed its commitment to empowering people at the grassroots level.
Zainal cited as examples the fact that the PPP had done little to protect workers and had taken no stand on major corruption cases such as the one implicating House Speaker Akbar Tandjung.
Zainuddin will tender his resignation as a PPP co-chairman on Tuesday while Zainal and one of his aides, Ade Hidayat, are to do the same on Monday.
Hamzah played down the plan to establish PPP Reformasi saying he knew it would not undermine his party.
"I have tried to accommodate the aspirations of Pak Kiai (preacher) Zainuddin, but if he wants to quit the party, it's no problem, although it is disappointing for us," Hamzah said.
He argued that Zainuddin was not on the party executive board when the party scored the major achievement of taking third place in the most recent general election in 1999.
Zainuddin's camp claimed it had the support of senior representatives from at least 29 provincial branches across the country.
"They will all attend a meeting tomorrow (Tuesday) at kiai Zainuddin's office in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta," Zainal said.