PDIP cadres demand annulment of legislative nomination
PDIP cadres demand annulment of legislative nomination
Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Medan, North Sumatra
Hundreds of cadres of the North Sumatra chapter of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) staged a protest on
Monday against the party's nomination of legislative candidates.
They said the nomination was marred by collusion and nepotism,
so the party's national executive board should step in and negate
its results.
Nurwahid, representing the PDIP cadres, asserted that the
malpractice had been committed by Rudolf Pardede, chairman of PDI
Perjuangan North Sumatra.
The cadres alleged that Rudolf had put his families and
friends on the list of legislative candidates released by the
North Sumatra chapter, including his daughter Yohana Pardede, who
was nominated as a legislator for the Medan council.
Other nominees linked to Rudolf were Topan Tampubolon, his
son-in-law, who was nominated as a legislator for the House of
Representatives (DPR), Sarma Haro, an aide to Rudolf's family,
who was nominated as a legislator for the Deli Serdang council
and Sinta Sinaga, a typist at PDI Perjuangan North Sumatra, who
was nominated as a legislator for the North Tapanuli council.
The list of nominees was made available to journalists during
the protest.
"It is a hard fact. Rudolf has selected the nominees as if he
owned the party," Nurwahid told The Jakarta Post on the sidelines
of the protest at the North Sumatra governor's office.
The protesters, who hailed from Deli Serdang regency, had come
to meet Rudolf, who is also deputy governor of North Sumatra.
However, he was not available at the office, apparently because
he was indisposed.
Nurwahid went on that the party's legislative nomination was
flawed and illegitimate, because the nominations were not made
through a plenary meeting by the North Sumatra chapter.
It violated an instruction by the party's national board that
the final say on the nomination had to be taken through a plenary
meeting, and therefore, it had to be annulled.
The protesters said only three persons had participated in the
nomination -- Rudolf, Edy Rangkuty and Ramses Simbolon. The
latter two are secretary and deputy secretary, respectively, to
Rudolf.
Rudolf and Edy could not be reached for comment.
When contacted by the Post, Ramses Simbolon said he was not
authorized to respond to the protest.
Japorman Saragih, deputy chairman of PDIP North Sumatra,
declined to confirm or deny the protesters' allegations.
He merely said: "Megawati, the chairwoman of PDI Perjuangan,
has established that she would not tolerate corruption, collusion
or nepotism in the party's nomination for legislative candidates.
"She has the prerogative to select the candidates."