PDI unrepresented on East Java electoral board

PDI unrepresented on East Java electoral board

SURABAYA (JP): East Java governor Basofi Soedirman left the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) unrepresented on the local
electoral committee as the government-set deadline to solve its
leadership rift passed unheeded yesterday.

The "punitive" action is expected to affect the minority
party's performance in next year's election where it competes
with the United Development Party and the ruling Golkar party.

But Basofi reiterated that the PDI may propose names as soon
as it forms a local executive board with personnel acceptable to
both the conflicting party members and the government.

He did not set a new deadline. However, when journalists asked
if it would be acceptable if the PDI's central executive board in
Jakarta proposes its representatives, he responded emotionally,
"Why should it be the central executive board? Don't they have
people here (in East Java)?"

Basofi's move to leave the PDI unrepresented in the local
electoral committee was regretted deeply by Soetjipto and Latief
Pudjosakti, key figures behind the ongoing crisis.

The conflict began in 1994 when a congress failed to elect a
new chapter chief. Soetjipto defeated Latief in the leadership
race but the result was annulled for a technical reason.

As the rift dragged on, the PDI central executive board took
over the affair and appointed Soetjipto later that year, a move
which was fiercely rejected by both Latief and Basofi. The local
government is understood to sympathize with Latief.

Latief, who was later also elected chairman by several key
local PDI leaders after the failed congress, and Soetjipto both
claim to be the legitimate chapter chief.

As the government has been maintaining its pressure for a
fresh election, the chief of PDI's executive board Megawati
Soekarnoputri insists that her choice of Soetjipto was legal and
undisputed.

PDI officials charge that the government means to meddle in
the party's internal affairs with the aim of undermining it prior
to the 1997 election.

Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M., the patron of
domestic political development, set yesterday as the deadline for
the PDI, an alliance of tiny nationalist and Christian parties,
to solve the problem.

Soetjipto, infuriated by Basofi's latest move, said the
governor disregarded the four names he submitted in December to
represent the PDI in the committee.

"This (Basofi's) move shows that the government doesn't want
to see the crisis within the PDI resolved," he told The Jakarta
Post.

He said he has no intention of meeting with Basofi to discuss
the problem. "As long as he does not respect the party's rules
and abide by laws, I can't be bothered to talk with him. There is
no use in doing so," he said.

Latief, who has been sacked by Megawati but still retains his
post as a deputy speaker of the provincial legislative council,
said he very much regretted the absence of PDI's representatives
in the electoral committee.

"This is the first time since 1971 that the PDI won't be
represented on the committee. All of the PDI family shares the
blame," he said.

He said he has his own names to propose but he declined to
mention who they were.

He implied that the party's central executive board had caused
all the trouble. "PDI leaders should put the interests of the
whole nation above their own," he said. "Everyone should be ready
to sacrifice their interest for that."

He declined to comment if he meant to say that he was ready to
quit and recognize Soetjipto's leadership. (15/pan)