PDI defies internal rift in upcoming election
By Dwi Atmanta
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) looks like a bull licking its wounds while preparing for its next, tougher, fight, namely the general election.
With its internal rift lingering on, the minority party, with a bull's head as its symbol, claims the past is behind it as it gears up for the May 29 poll.
Deputy chairwoman of the government-recognized PDI, Fatimah Achmad, said yesterday that the year-long spat among the party's top leaders would not be a hurdle to its efforts to win more votes.
"We aren't worried about losing votes because we are well prepared," Fatimah said. "We are used to facing internal conflicts -- they have been part of the party since its foundation 24 years ago."
PDI comprises five nationalist and Christian parties who merged in 1973 following the government's decision to reduce the number of recognized political organizations from 10 to three.
The fusion has caused many internal disputes since then, prompted mostly by rivalry among its leaders. Analysts have predicted the minority party is now mired in its most serious conflict ever because it involves the family of Sukarno, the country's charismatic founding father with whom the party has historic links.
The conflict-ridden PDI plunged into its latest crisis following a breakaway congress which dethroned the democratically elected leader Megawati Soekarnoputri and reinstated former chairman Soerjadi to power.
Megawati, Sukarno's eldest daughter, took the top post in place from Soerjadi in January 1994 but only after surviving a tense congress in December 1993.
Last year's crisis peaked with the forceful takeover of the PDI's headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, on July 27 by Soerjadi supporters. Five people were killed and another 23 are still missing from the incident, according to the National Commission on Human Rights.
Grassroots
Fatimah believes the party's grassroots supporters know about the split within the group's elite, but never think of changing their allegiance.
"A PDI cadre always sticks to the party's ideals, no matter who the leaders are. So I have no worries about the excess of the current internal dispute toward our election program," Fatimah said.
"The previous elections proved that internal conflict has not affected our election achievements," she said.
The PDI's House representation has increased in the last three elections, from 24 in 1982 to 40 in 1987 and 56 in 1992, although the party was beleaguered by disputes in each of the elections.
No special program has been planned by the rival PDI faction under Megawati, which many people believe has millions of supporters, according to Megawati loyalist Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno.
"We will just keep struggling to seek recognition of our legislative candidates, because we are the legitimate leadership," he said over the weekend.
He said, however, the PDI under Megawati would not prohibit its supporters from not voting if the government refused to accept their demands. The government dismissed the demands with the endorsement of Soerjadi's candidates earlier this month,
"Why should we force our supporters to go to polling booths if they have nobody to vote for?" he said.
Fatimah said the government-backed PDI had deployed 60,000 village-level cadres throughout the archipelago to seek public sympathy through a number of neighborhood programs.
The cadres helped people in villages obtain their election registration forms and will remind them of all procedures they have to follow prior to the election.
Despite her guarded optimism, Fatimah declined to disclose PDI's election target. The party, she said, just wanted to improve on the last election.
"We consider our mission successful if the election organizers make no modifications to the rules we have all accepted, even though the rules need improvement," she said.
"Once the rules are rigidly implemented, we can hope to increase our vote," she added.
Fatimah estimated the party's election spending could exceed Rp 20 billion (US$ 8.5 million). "We are relying on our supporters' to raise the funds," she said.