PDI-P pledges backing for Beratha

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.