Parmusi likely to split with PPP

JAKARTA: The Indonesian Muslim Brotherhood (Parmusi) has indicated it has broken with traditional ally the United Development Party (PPP), signaling a shift to the Crescent Star Party (PBB).

Concluding its two-day national meeting here on Tuesday, Parmusi members voted for which Muslim-based party they would support during the April 5 general elections.

"We let Parmusi members channel their political aspirations according to their conscience, not tying them to any single Muslim party," Parmusi chairman Bachtiar Chamsyah said at the end of the vote.

Bachtiar said Parmusi members were considering a move to the PBB, a Muslim party with which it shares the same symbol.

In 1973 Parmusi, along with the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the Sarekat Islam (SI) and the Islamic Education Association (Perti), merged into the PPP. The NU reinstated its founding status as a non-political organization, withdrawing from the grouping in 1984.

Bachtiar denied Parmusi's move was in retaliation for his defeat by Vice President Hamzah Haz in the race for the PPP chairmanship early last year.

"In a democratic country, people are free to affiliate themselves to any political party," Bachtiar said. -- Antara