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."