PDI-P pledges backing for Beratha
I Wayan Juniartha, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
Incumbent Bali Governor Dewa Made Beratha will likely be reelected for a second term next week as the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the largest faction in the province's legislature, agreed on Tuesday to vote for him.
The faction's full support was declared during a meeting between Beratha and 32 of the 39 PDI Perjuangan councillors ahead of the gubernatorial election scheduled for Aug. 6.
It comes just one day after Anak Agung Ngurah Oka Ratmadi of the PDI Perjuangan, who is currently serving as the regent of Badung, withdrew his bid for the governorship after failing to win support from top party leader President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
"In the meeting, the councillors and Pak Beratha reach a common understanding to the effect that the party will wholeheartedly support him in the election," said the chairman of Bali's PDI Perjuangan, I.B. Wesnawa.
He said the governor also promised to provide party members with wider access to the resort island's development process. "Most importantly, he has agreed to give political support to the party in the 2004 general elections."
"Dewa Beratha has promised that he is committed to the betterment and advancement of the PDI Perjuangan and its members, so we will support him," said councillor Alit Bagiatna, one of Ratmadi's staunchest supporters.
Wesnawa said he believed that Beratha, a low-profile PDI Perjuangan politician, would make good on his promises. "As far as I know Dewa Made Beratha is a man of his word."
Beratha, a career bureaucrat, used to be a loyalist of Golkar, the political vehicle of former president Soeharto.
However, the incumbent governor gained Megawati's favor in 1998 when he allowed the PDI Perjuangan, then considered to be a dissenting political force, to hold its national congress in Bali, one of its strongholds.
Earlier this month, Megawati issued a letter ordering party members in Bali to vote for Beratha, instead of Ratmadi.
The order apparently forced Ratmadi to cancel his gubernatorial candidacy, which had been supported by the provincial chapter of the PDI Perjuangan.
However, many party councillors changed their stance after they met Megawati in Jimbaran last Friday. During the talks, she told them to follow her orders by supporting Beratha.
"We will soon arrange a meeting between Beratha and Ratmadi to heal the rift between their two camps," Wesnawa said.
The 39-member PDI Perjuangan faction is the largest on the 55- seat Bali legislative council.