PAN likely to revise platform

PAN likely to revise platform

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The National Mandate Party (PAN) looks
certain to insert religious terms of "faith and devotion" into
its existing platform that recognizes state ideology Pancasila,
the party's deputy chairman Andi Mappataeng Fatwa said on
Tuesday.

Fatwa said the demand was widely heard when he toured a number
of provinces recently. PAN's provincial branches, even in areas
where Muslims are not the majority like Bali and Maluku,
supported the modification, according to Fatwa, who is the deputy
House of Representatives speaker.

But he was quick to dismiss allegations that the party, once
known for its nationalist orientation, would emerge a sectarian
grouping in a bid to lure Muslim voters.

"PAN remains open to everybody and respectful of pluralism.
The terms indeed have a religious nuance, but it is not directly
associated with a particular religion."

"Even the State Policy Guideline adopts those terms. We just
emulate it," Fatwa said.

He admitted, however, the change was intended to help the
party gain more votes from Muslim supporters in the next
elections in 2004.

"I believe we could win between 15 percent and 20 percent of
the votes, an identical vote sharing between the former Masyumi
and PNI in the 1955 elections," Fatwa said, referring to the
Muslim modernist-oriented party and Indonesian Nationalist Party
which dominated the first polls ever held in the country's
history.

Fatwa is in the city to attend PAN's first congress, which
runs from Thursday through Sunday. He is scheduled to meet with
Governor Hamengkubuwono X and members of the provincial
legislature on Wednesday.

Political analysts have warned that the planned revision to
the platform could endanger the position of the party's chairman,
Amien Rais, on the political stage.

Pratikno of the school of social and political sciences at
Gadjah Mada University, here said that the change would confirm
public allegations that the party had changed into a sectarian
party, thanks to its participation in the loose coalition of
Muslim-based parties called "the axis force". (swa/44)