PKB -- A sad tale of a demoralized party
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Just six months ago, the National Awakening Party (PKB) was at the forefront of national politics. But since its patriarch Abdurrahman Wahid fell from the presidency in July, it has been relegated to the fringes.
The fall of Abdurrahman was followed by leadership conflicts within the PKB which have practically crippled the party that he co-founded in 1999.
PKB has split. One faction is loyal to Alwi Shihab, a confidante of Abdurrahman and the other faction is loyal to Matori Abdul Djalil, the party's first chairman that Abdurrahman fired for disloyalty.
Both Matori and Alwi claim to be the party's legitimate leader.
In an interview with The Jakarta Post last week, Alwi said that the PKB was trapped in an unfortunate political situation. Abdurrahman lost the presidency and Matori allied with President Megawati, Abdurrahman's political rival.
Megawati has cleverly played the PKB card. As the chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle she maintains good relations with the Matori camp as well as the Alwi camp.
"We understand that the government wants to provide more time for Matori, so PKB can find a solution that will not make him lose face. And we also believe that the government does not have any intention to break up the party," Alwi said.
Matori, who was also appointed by Megawati to be her minister of defense, was fired by the party's chief, Abdurrahman, for backing his impeachment in July, which led to Megawati's ascent to the nation's top post.
Matori has exploited his position in the administration, asking Megawati to attend his version of the party congress on Jan. 14.
Meanwhile, the Alwi-Abdurrahman camp is strengthening support from the grassroots groups within Nadhatul Ulama (NU), the party's main political base and the largest Muslim organization in the country.
The internal conflict also forced the government to postpone the disbursement of Rp 13 billion (US$1.3million) in party aid until a solution is found.
Alwi claimed that NU clerics (kyai) had expressed strong support for his leadership and had offered mediation in the leadership conflict but Matori refused to take them up on the offer.
"All the Kyai support Abdurrahman's PKB and have ignored Matori," said Masduki Mahfud a member of NU Consultative Body as quoted by detik.com.
Alwi said that he had requested a meeting with Megawati to inform her of the official PKB congress on Jan. 17 and to reiterate that he does not hold a grudge toward her administration.
"The government knows that our PKB is the one that has the strong roots among the people. Should the government choose to back Matori instead, then we will rename our party and have a fair competition in the 2004 general elections," he said.