PCPP starts congress without Yogie's presence
PCPP starts congress without Yogie's presence
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The Association of Intellectuals for Pancasila Development (PCPP), a group which has become a source of public controversy, begins its first congress today.
As of last night, the organizer of the congress had failed in his attempt to secure the agreement of Minister of Home Affairs Yogie S.M. to open the gathering.
Despite this blow, the gathering will proceed, spokesman Bambang Diponegoro said. Some 200 representatives of PCPP branches in 20 provinces will attend the two-day meeting, he added.
A number of high-ranking officials, including Minister of Defense and Security Edi Sudradjat, have agreed to address the congress, Bambang told The Jakarta Post.
A spokesman of the Ministry of Home Affairs told the press in Jakarta yesterday that the organizer had indeed asked the minister to inaugurate the congress.
"However, the minister has yet to give his answer, so it's not certain whether the minister will open it," HSA Yusacc was quoted by the Antara news agency as saying yesterday.
Yogie himself had said on Thursday that he would not attend because he was busy.
Last night, a number of participants held preliminary discussions, but did not specifically address the organization's programs or chairmanship.
The organization has been without a chairman since it was established in July by a group of intellectuals from Jenderal Sudirman University in Purwokerto, Central Java.
A number of high-ranking officials have been mentioned as possible candidates, including Minister of Transmigration Siswono Yudohusodo. Siswono had said he would decline should the organization's chairmanship be offered to him.
Other possible candidates include Edi Sudradjat, the minister of defense and security; and Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, the state minister of environment and former secretary-general of the ruling political grouping Golkar.
The PCPP's inception is widely seen as a challenge to existing organizations of intellectuals, whose memberships are based on religion.
Leading PCPP members have repeatedly stated that the group will stay away from politics.
Bambang spoke yesterday of reported rivalry between members who also belong to SOKSI, a Golkar-affiliated organization, and those whose background is in GMNI, a nationalist students organization. Siswono is a former chairman of GMNI.
"There's no such rivalry, but if members from those organizations join PCPP, it's natural," he said. "This association cannot forbid its individual members from entering politics," he added.
He said that, although its members are selected, the association tries to accommodate a diversity of backgrounds.
"We have members from the Nahdlatul Ulama Moslem organization, as well as from associations of Catholic, Hindu and Moslem intellectuals," he said. (mun/swe)