PDI rival board denied permit to convene

BANDUNG (JP): A local home affairs official says he will not grant permission for the rival board of the Indonesian Democratic Party to convene an extraordinary chairman election here later this week.

Head of the home affairs ministry's West Java bureau for sociopolitical affairs, Edi Mulyono, said on Monday that as the local "patron of political development", he would adhere to the fact that the board is not officially recognized.

"I wish the party was able to solve its internal disputes through negotiation among its own members," he said.

He said his office has not yet received official reports or application for permits for the holding of the extraordinary congress.

"Even if there are agencies which have granted permission for the rival board to hold the meeting, I won't let them proceed," he vowed.

Clara Sitompul Tambunan, an activist of PDI who recently said she would organize the extraordinary congress, said permission from the government is not necessary.

She claimed that in a recent meeting, Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. said that every cadre of any political party has the right to hold congresses.

"The only thing we need to do is inform the National Police chief of our plan," she said. "You'll see, this extraordinary congress will take place here."

The nationalist-Christian alliance party is being dogged by various conflicts, both internally and externally.

Clara, who helped found the rival board last year under self- appointed chairman Jusuf Merukh, said she will organize the extraordinary congress on May 24 to May 26 to establish the board's full lineup.

She said that 270 of the party's 305 branches across the country have expressed readiness to attend the congress. She told The Jakarta Post recently, however, that the committee does not affiliate itself with either Jusuf's board or that of Megawati Soekarnoputri, the officially recognized party chief.

"This committee is independent, and its only goal is to steer the party back to a line in accordance with the law," she said.

She also denied links with the organizer of the foiled meeting of Jusuf's camp earlier this month in Cibubur, West Java.

Jusuf's board on May 1st gathered some 190 supporters from various regions for a meeting as a prelude to an extraordinary congress to replace Megawati's board. Later on, some 200 members who support Megawati invaded the venue.

The two opposing camps then became involved in a brawl, which left a number of people slightly injured. The two camps were eventually separated, following the intervention of hundreds of East Jakarta police.

Clara said in January the board led by Megawati Soekarnoputri, elected in the December 1993 congress, failed to hold the requisite convention to appoint the party's regional leaders three months after the 1993 congress as promised.

"According to the organization's regulations, her leadership board is not valid," Clara said. She admitted, however, that her board also failed to meet the criteria.

"There are two boards, and neither is legal," she said to explain why her board is holding the congress. (17/swe)