PDI-P race still open to candidates

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Despite being denied an invite to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) national congress, a candidate for the party's top post, Guruh Soekarnoputra, remains eligible to challenge the incumbent leader, his sister Megawati Soekarnoputri, a party executive says.

PDI-P deputy chairman and event organizer Roy B.B. Janis said on Thursday that any party members, including Guruh, would be allowed to contest the race although they had not been invited to attend the event, which runs in Bali from Monday through Friday.

"Any members are eligible to join the race, if they fulfill all the set conditions," Roy said here after speaking at a discussion on the future of the party after the Bali congress.

Prior to making the statement, Roy revealed that Guruh, the youngest brother of Megawati and so far the strongest candidate to challenge her in the race, was not given the invitation to take part in the congress.

Nor were any other members of the party's faction at the House of Representatives, he said.

"Apart from representatives from the party provincial and regency branches, only the chairman and secretary of the PDI-P factions are eligible to take part in the congress," he said. The congress' steering committee has also barred many more party members from attending the congress simply because of the limited capacity of the hotel booked for the congress, the third since the party was declared in 1998.

The congress will take place in the Bali Beach Hotel in Sanur, a beach in the provincial capital of Denpasar. Organizers have registered over 1,800 participants of the congress.

Roy dismissed speculation that the exclusion of Guruh from the attendance list was a ploy initiated by Megawati's camp to diminish his chance in the race for the party leadership.

Earlier, the PDI-P central board had given Guruh the privilege to come to the congress as an observer. The party had also decided that all members of the PDI-P faction in the House would be invited to the congress. However, that decision was later canceled.

Speculation has also been rife on the eve of the congress that to boost Megawati's chances in the race, only local leaders that supported the incumbent's leadership would be allowed to attend.

Roy denied these rumors and assured the meeting that party members involved in the movement to replace Megawati, including businessman-cum-politician Arifin Panigoro and former state minister for state enterprises Laksamana Sukardi, would be allowed to attend.

Roy said that the congress organizing committee had sent invitations to the two members, which they would not have received yet.

"Even if they don't get the invitations, they will still have the right to take part in the congress due to their positions on the party's central board," Roy said.

Earlier in January, Arifin and Laksamana launched a movement to kick-start a reform drive within the party which they said had too long been stalled by Megawati's leadership. The movement seeks to strip Megawati of her special powers in the party and if possible replace her with a more reform-minded figure.

Separately, Guruh predicted the party congress would outrightly reject Megawati's accountability report because she had failed to carry out the mandate given to her by the party's last congress in Semarang in 2000.

"Her leadership has failed to guide the party to victory in the legislative and presidential elections and failed to set up a proper central board. Those three targets were set in the last congress," Guruh said.