PDI's troubles in East Java continue

PDI's troubles in East Java continue

JAKARTA (JP): First, chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri was
barred from addressing a gathering, and now the East Java chapter
of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) is banned from holding a
gathering to appoint its leaders. The minority party's troubles
with the authorities continue in East Java.

The East Java provincial authorities yesterday warned that any
meeting the party holds in Surabaya today to install Sutjipto as
the chairman of its East Java chapter would be considered
illegal.

The head of the East Java Socio-Political Office, Soeryadi
Setiawan, was in Jakarta yesterday to consult with the Ministry
of Home Affairs on matters concerning an announcement that the
PDI is planning to hold an inauguration ceremony in Surabaya
today, Antara reported.

After the meeting, Soeryadi said the inauguration could not
proceed because Sutjipto's election was unconstitutional.

He said no application had been received from PDI to hold the
gathering, but the East Java provincial government would not
issue one even if an application was forwarded.

Soeryadi stressed that as far as the government was concerned,
the leadership of PDI in East Java is still in the hands of
Latief Pudjosakti because the provincial congress duly reelected
him.

A letter issued by PDI's Central Executive Board to override
the election result was unconstitutional, he added.

Latief has opposed the leadership of Megawati since her
appointment to the top PDI post in 1992. Megawati's attempt to
unseat him, however, has failed as Latief apparently has the
support of local authorities.

Meanwhile, the National Police yesterday defended the decision
by their precinct in Kediri, East Java, to bar Megawati from
addressing a PDI gathering last month, "for security reasons."

"The local police reported that the condition was too risky to
allow the gathering to proceed because many people from out of
town were also coming," Brig. Gen. I Ketut Ratta, the chief
spokesman of the National Police, said yesterday. "The organizers
never informed the police that people from out of town were
coming too," Ratta told reporters.

Given the still intense conflict within PDI in East Java, the
Kediri police decided that allowing the gathering to go ahead
could pose a security risk, he said.

Ratta firmly denied the suggestion that there was a concerted
effort to obstruct Megawati from addressing her supporters in
Kediri. "It was simply a matter of a permit. That's all."

He defended the decision by the Kediri police chief to ask
Megawati not to address the gathering. "It was not an over-
reaction on his part."

Megawati is currently in Mecca to perform the haj pilgrimage.

Meanwhile, Megawati's staunchest opponent, Yusuf Merukh, on
Monday installed the leadership of the local "rival" chapter in
Yogyakarta in another campaign to undermine her leadership.

Yusuf, who has formed his own executive board and named
himself its chairman, has been courting senior PDI leaders in
Yogyakarta, including 65-year old T.A.S. Sumitro, who was
appointed as chapter chairman.

The ceremony to install Sumitro was quietly switched to Aquila
Hotel in Yogyakarta from Wisma Kaliurang because some 50 police
officers had been guarding the Kaliurang site, ready to break up
the meeting that had no permit.

"Yogyakarta is the heart of PDI," Yusuf proclaimed,
underlining that the constituency is one of the party's main
support bases. "And we've made a breakthrough here."

Sumitro himself said he no longer recognized the leadership of
Megawati because, under her, the party had been infiltrated by
former members of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party.
(emb/02)