PDI can't sue government over leadership rift
PDI can't sue government over leadership rift
SEMARANG (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) has no
legal ground to settle its conflict with the government over the
East Java leadership rift, an expert says.
Soehardjo, a professor of constitutional law at Diponegoro
University here, said yesterday that should PDI decide to sue
Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. and East Java Governor
Basofi Soedirman over their handling of the rift, it would be
rebuffed by the State Administrative Court.
"This is not a matter of administration, it's a constitutional
question," he told The Jakarta Post. "And we don't have a
constitutional court yet."
Soehardjo was referring to a recent suggestion made by a PDI
legislator, Aberson Marle Sihaloho, that the party's executive
board sue President Soeharto, Minister of Home Affairs Moch.
Yogie S.M. and East Java Governor Basofi Soedirman at the State
Administrative Court.
The officials, Aberson had said, should be charged with
disrespecting the PDI's internal rules on the pretext that the
government is the "patron" of domestic political development.
The government has no right to dismiss a political
organization's rules and declare them invalid, Aberson said.
The minority party and the government have been at odds after
Basofi "rejected" PDI chief Megawati Soekarnoputri's appointment
of Sutjipto as the party's East Java chapter chief in 1994 to
replace outgoing Latief Pudjosakti.
The conflict has deepened after Basofi excluded the PDI from
the East Java electoral committee because both Sutjipto and
Latief claim they are the legitimate local party chief.
Soehardjo also contributed to the discussion about the
government's role as the "patron" of political development.
He said that, according to the laws, the government does not
have the right to become "the patron" of political parties or of
Golkar.
Given this fact, no governor or regent would be in a position
to deny permits for political parties to hold gatherings in
"their" regions, he said.
The government can only monitor whether the parties -- PDI and
the United Development Party (PPP) -- and Golkar act in line with
the state ideology of Pancasila and whether they receive
financial help from foreign countries.
"The government, therefore, does not have the right to
intervene in the internal affairs of the East Java chapter of
PDI," he said.
The home affairs minister and governors can only act as
"patrons" for social organizations, he said.
The 1985 Law, he said, stipulates that PDI, PPP and Golkar are
social-political organizations "whose sovereignty lies with their
members".
The government can give suggestions, but solutions to internal
wranglings should be left to the organizations in question, he
said.
In Surabaya, the leadership conflicts in PDI East Java chapter
reached a new stage with the circulation of a PDI decree
containing the lineup of an alternative chapter leadership.
This board has as its chairman Marsoedi Fandinegara, who is
currently deputy chairman on Sutjipto's board, and Latief
Pudjosakti as deputy chairman.
The document was printed with the letterhead of the PDI
central executive board, and bore the signatures of Megawati and
deputy secretary general Haryanto Taslam. Dated Jan. 24, it was
directed to the members of the PDI advisory council.
Out of the 21 names listed in the document, 13 are known to be
Sutjipto's supporters; the remaining are those known to belong in
Latief's camp.
The chief of the Brawijaya regional military command, Maj.
Gen. Imam Utomo, said the document was created by people who had
nothing better to do. (har/15/swe)