PDI Perjuangan members defy Megawati
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) have got a boost of confidence to challenge chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri after their latest expression of defiance was ignored by Megawati.
After publicly ignoring Megawati's instruction during the vote for the establishment of the House of Representatives' special committee to probe a graft case last Monday, legislators were assured that there would be no sanctions imposed on them.
"The chairwoman considers that the problem is over," the party's faction chairman at the People's Consultative Assembly, Arifin Panigoro, said on Saturday.
"None of the defying members get sanctions from the chairwoman," he said, referring to Megawati, who is also the country's President.
In a bid to secure political support for her presidency, at least from the second-largest political party, Golkar, Megawati instructed the party's legislators to reject the establishment of the House special committee to probe the alleged misuse of State Logistics Agency (Bulog) funds.
The case implicated Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung, who played a pivotal role in helping then vice president Megawati ascend to president in the Assembly's special session last year.
To Megawati's surprise, only three of 100 party legislators in attendance followed the instruction, while five of them voted for the establishment of the committee and the remaining 92 chose to abstain. There are a total of 153 PDI Perjuangan legislators in the House.
The motion showed that most PDI Perjuangan legislators disagreed with Megawati's decision to save Akbar from further political damage because of the graft case.
Sources told The Jakarta Post that at the opening ceremony of the party's leadership meeting in Bogor on Thursday, Megawati expressed her anxiety over the July 1 incident.
"I feel that most PDI Perjuangan members now dare to defy my instructions," they quoted Megawati as saying.
She was also upset as many party executives questioned her decision to block the people's aspirations and reject the establishment of the special committee.
Meanwhile, the party's secretary-general, Sutjipto, said Megawati had never raised the matters during the three-day leadership meeting, which ended on Saturday.
"The chairwoman did not even ask the reasons why the legislators had defied her instruction. It is considered to be over," he remarked.
Another source revealed that many PDI Perjuangan members were disappointed with Megawati's decision on the committee's establishment and for the support she gave to Jakarta's governor candidate Sutiyoso.
"We could not understand why she continues to disappoint the people and we will not defend her if other parties try to topple her because of the two blunders," the source said.
"If she keeps this up, there will be a point where we really are going to ignore her," the source added.