PAN's pre-congress session starts

PAN's pre-congress session starts

YOGYAKARTA: Some 3,000 National Mandate Party (PAN) supporters
attended a post-Idul Fitri celebration on Wednesday night,
marking the opening of a preliminary meeting of the party's first
congress to be held here next month.

In his address, the party's chairman, Amien Rais, criticized
President Abdurrahman Wahid's government for its inappropriate
and unwise handling of the year-long sectarian conflict in
Maluku.

"The government cannot let the people solve the conflict
themselves. By the time it ends, the Maluku people will have
vanished," Amien said.

Amien, who is also the speaker of the People's Consultative
Assembly, furthermore said that threats of disintegration and
conflicts fueled by religious and ethnic differences topped the
list of problems the nation had to deal with.

The party congress will be held from Feb. 10 to Feb. 13 and is
to be attended by some 850 cadres nationwide. They will elect a
new chairman and debate PAN's nonsectarian basis, following
growing allegations that the party has shifted to a sectarian
one. (swa/edt)