PDI chief request for congress
JAKARTA (JP): Chief of the minority Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Megawati Soekarnoputri yesterday refused to bow to mounting pressure from dissenting members to hold a fresh election for party chairman.
"The proposal for a congress was unlawful," Megawati said in a written statement read out to journalists by one of her deputies, Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno.
Other party executives, who accompanied Soetardjo to the party headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, showing their support for Megawati, included secretary-general Alexander Litaay and the chief of the research and development department, Kwik Kian Gie. Megawati herself was not present during the reading of the statement.
The call for a congress -- raised by 16 provincial chapters and 141 branches -- did not meet the party's statutes because it was not made by branch and chapter leaders, according to party executive Sulistyo.
A group of activists claiming to represent 21 of the 27 provincial chapters and 215 of PDI's 305 branches requested government permission to hold the congress and election for party chairman.
The Ministry of Home Affairs and high-ranking military officials -- including Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung -- gave qualified support for the call, with most of them saying that a congress is permitted "as long as it's in accordance with the party's statutes".
A group of party executives led by Fatimah Achmad, chief of PDI's faction at the House of Representatives and one of Megawati's deputies, moved quickly and yesterday established an organizing committee for the congress.
Fatimah, known to be an ally of former chairman Soerjadi, who was defeated by Megawati in 1993, said her group would hold the congress before the end of the month and that Megawati should defend her leadership then.
Megawati maintained that her leadership is valid, as it complies with the party statutes.
The government had previously stated that it recognized Megawati as the rightful leader of the party.
Megawati won the majority of votes of the party's regional branches in a disputed extraordinary congress in Surabaya, East Java, in December 1993. The result was legalized in a national "deliberation" meeting in January 1994.
The dissenters are scheduled today to meet with Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. and Armed Forces Chief for Sociopolitics Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid to report on the planned congress.
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman said yesterday that the government has clearly given its stance on the matter through the home affairs ministry's Director General of Sociopolitics, Sutoyo N.K.
Sutoyo told the press on Monday that the government approved the request for permission to convene a congress, because it was made by the majority of the party's members.
In Surabaya, East Java, at least 200 PDI cadres pledged their loyalty to Megawati and signed their names in blood drawn from their needle-pricked thumbs.
They said they would support and protect Megawati's leadership from any efforts to topple her. "We are ready to secure Megawati's leadership till the last drop of our blood," said Andy, one of the cadres.
Feisal yesterday pointed out that the party has not been able to carry out its programs due to leadership wrangling.
Separately, Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid said that there are grounds for demands to hold the congress, and that the Armed Forces are ready to provide maximum security if the congress did take place.
Commander of the Jakarta Military Command Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso said yesterday that the Jakarta garrison would be ready to secure the congress, should it take place in Jakarta. (imn/jun/15)