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)