PDI-P race still open to candidates

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.