PDI-P loses 50% of voters, discord, 'defiance' abound
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
In a show of distrust of their current House of Representatives legislators, a large group of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) rank and file members have proposed new names for the legislative candidates for the 2004 election.
PDI Perjuangan secretary general Soetjipto said on Tuesday that around 50 percent of the names proposed by the party's regency branches from across the country were new.
"Many of our branches have complained of the lack of communication and support from their representatives at the House. Smarting from the experience, they've decided to back new candidates," Soetjipto said after the party's weekly meeting led by chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri.
He said most regency branches considered the current legislators to be failures when it came doing anything for their constituents or fighting for their interests after their election.
"We also will withhold candidates who are not supported not by the people in their respective areas. It does raise questions, however, that they enjoy support in other areas," a seemingly puzzled Soetjipto added.
The party's deputy secretary general Pramono Anung Wibowo said the list of candidates would be finalized during a national meeting here on Nov. 19, with the roster to be filled in numerical order.
PDI Perjuangan has suffered decreasing popularity since Megawati was appointed President in July 2001 after Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid was ousted by his political opponents. The loss of huge numbers of supporters, according to analysts was due to her and the party's perceived failure to fulfill their reform movement promises.
The party's internal research agency earlier disclosed that the party's popularity was radically slashed by nearly 50 percent, saying that of the 35 percent of the total who voted for the party in 1999, only around 20 percent are likely to cast their votes for the party in 2004.
Many other surveys conducted by various research agencies recently also drew similar conclusions, that PDI Perjuangan had lost about 80 percent of the public's trust.
Pramono dismissed the worries, saying the party would gain confidence as the list of candidates would include several prominent names.
Soetjipto further disclosed in the press conference that the central executive board of the party had threatened to dismiss a number of the party's legislators from the House -- those that continue to be considered "defiant" in their non-conformist response to the party's orders.
"We will dismiss them, at least from their position at the House, if they continue this defiance of party instructions," Soetjipto said, refused to mention the names of the independent- minded legislators.
A source from within the party, however, disclosed that the legislators in question had been reprimanded twice by the central executive board, and one was Haryanto Taslam, and the others possibly Meliono Soewondo and/or Arifin Panigoro.
Haryanto, Meliono and several legislators have been labeled as defiant members because they have had the courage to criticize Megawati in public and the audacity to make their own decisions on House votes, often in direct opposition to the executive board.
Arifin, who still holds the title of deputy chairman of the party, seems to have had a major falling out with the party's top brass, marked by his absence from party meetings over the last seven months and last week's flat refusal to meet Megawati after she had summoned him.
Soetjipto said that the party would no longer tolerate such defiance, which is considered disloyal and that dismissals would be in order straightaway. "The dismissal will be decided soon," Soetjipto asserted.