PDI crisis may threaten 1997 election: Scholar

PDI crisis may threaten 1997 election: Scholar

JAKARTA (JP): The deepening crisis plaguing the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) will endanger the 1997 election unless the
government can handle it correctly, an analyst said yesterday.

Riswanda Imawan from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University said
the escalating leadership rift threatens not only the minority
party itself, but also the interests of the nation as whole.

If the crisis persists, PDI may risk boycotting next year's
election on the grounds that it is not ready for it, he said.

"If PDI does that, the 1997 election must be canceled, because
the pertaining law states that elections should be participated
in by the three political organizations," he said.

The three are Golkar, PDI and the United Development Party
(PPP). They will all be contesting for 425 seats in the House of
Representatives.

The PDI, a merger of Christian and nationalist forces, was hit
hard after breakaway leaders -- backed by the government and
military -- demanded a new congress.

Critics say that the current crisis is engineered by the
government, which wants to see PDI's legitimate chief, Megawati
Soekarnoputri, ousted prior to next year's election.

Riswandha said that if PDI does not take part in the election
and the government insists on having only Golkar and PPP take
part in the election, a new problem would arise.

For example, he said, the House will not be able to make
decisions, because the law requires that any decisions the
legislative body makes must be approved by all factions.

"As all House members are also members of the People's
Consultative Assembly (which elects the new president), then the
crisis will hamper the 1998 presidential election as well," he
said.

According to Riswandha, it is logical to relate the political
bloodletting in PDI with Golkar leaders' determination to clinch
a landslide victory next year.

He said that apparently the ruling Golkar has an interest in
keeping the fire within PDI lit in order to reduce its ability to
attract voters for the forthcoming election.

"Obviously, the PDI card is easier for Golkar to play than the
PPP. The PDI's internal conflict is worse. Besides, PDI
successfully snatched many of Golkar's seats in the House in
1992," he said.

In the 1992 election, Golkar lost 16 seats to the PDI and one
to PPP, reducing its majority from 73 percent to 68 percent.
Golkar now has 282 seats, PPP 62 and PDI 56 in the House.

Meanwhile, in Surakarta, political observer Makyo Sumaryo said
PDI dissidents pressing for a congress are "political clowns" who
mean to confuse party members in the regencies.

"What they (dissidents) do is a political crime that can
hamper the 1997 election," said Makyo, a political teacher from
the Sebelas Maret University and chief of the Surakarta PDI
chapter.

In Ujungpandang, Sadly A.D., a political observer from the
Hasanuddin University, predicted that no one can stop the
breakaway PDI leaders from holding the congress, because it is
the will of most party branches.

Sadly, the dean of the university's sociopolitical school,
said that, in his opinion, the government is not fanning the
flames of PDI's internal conflict as many people believe.

"The dispute stems from conflicting interests among the
party's leaders," he said. (har/20/pan)