PKB factions go ahead with congresses

Kurniawan Hari and Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Yogyakarta

The breakup of the National Awakening Party (PKB), founded by former president Abdurrahman Wahid, seems almost inevitable as the party's camp, headed by Minister of Defense Matori Abdul Djalil, will open its three-day extraordinary congress in Jakarta on Monday.

Another camp, headed by former foreign minister Alwi Shihab, will go ahead with another three-day extraordinary congress in Yogyakarta on Thursday, just one day after the Matori-led party ended its congress.

Both camps have their own legitimate claims over the party, which gained 11 percent of the votes in the 1999 elections.

Matori, who was dismissed by PKB's patron Abdurrahman claimed that he remained a legitimate PKB chairman, and therefore, he had the right to call an extraordinary congress.

According to PKB legislator Agus Suflihat Mahmud, Matori himself -- and not President Megawati Soekarnoputri -- would open the congress in the Borobudur Hotel in Central Jakarta.

Matori's camp claimed that the congress had won the support of around 300 district chapters from 30 provinces. A total of 1,340 participants from across the country would attend the congress.

"Delegations from 300 district chapters have registered with the steering committee," PKB legislator Agus Suflihat Mahmud told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Agus confirmed that the main agenda of the extraordinary congress would be to assess the leadership of Matori, especially the prelude to the split of the country's fourth biggest party.

"We will assess his leadership. If he is proven innocent, he will be able to maintain his position and have his status restored," Agus said.

Asked if his camp received support from the 51 PKB legislators in the House of Representatives (DPR), Agus said several legislators had posed a similar view. "But only four or five legislators have had the courage to announce their support," he added.

The four legislators are Agus, Abdul Khaliq Ahmad, Syarif Ustman Yahya and Umar Anshori Khusnan.

PKB was set up in July 1998 with major backing from the 45- million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Islamic group. It split into two camps last July after a small faction led by Matori endorsed the impeachment of then president Abdurrahman Wahid.

Abdurrahman, in his capacity as PKB patron, eventually dismissed Matori and appointed Alwi Shihab, a foreign minister in Abdurrahman's 18-month Cabinet.

Abdurrahman-Alwi led PKB and have claimed support from both the grassroots and most Muslim kyais or leaders of pesantren (Islamic boarding schools).

On Sunday, a group of influential Muslim leaders from Langitan Islamic Boarding School in Tuban, East Java, declared their support for the Alwi-led faction.

Muslim leaders said that most PKB participants remained solid under the Alwi-Abdurrahman leadership.

The NU, which Abdurrahman chaired for years, had silently laid its support behind the Alwi-Abdurrahman camp.

NU chairman, Hasyim Muzadi, however, said that he had given up in his efforts to reconcile the two camps and had let all NU members who attended to choose one out of the two.

Political analyst from Gadjah Mada University Mochtar Mas'oed said the internal rift within the party should be settled soon, otherwise the rivalry would worsen the party's image as an immature political party.

"One of the two rival groups should be willing to take the initiative to seek a solution, reuniting the party. It will be a bad campaign for the party if there are two different PKBs," he told reporters in Yogyakarta on Saturday, after speaking at a seminar, which was organized by Alwi's camp.

"Pak Hasyim (Muzadi) is tired of attempting to reconcile the two rival groups, but I am sure there are many other figures in both PKB and NU who still have enough energy and spirit to make the effort," Mochtar said.

Mochtar believed that the efforts of reconciliation would find their way because it was in the interests of each of the two rivals to reunite again.

A successful reconciliation would benefit Alwi's camp giving it the good image as a mature political party. On the other hand, it would save the political career of Matori who does not have any real support from PKB constituents, he said.

"This is a test for PKB leaders whether they have the capability to resolve the ongoing internal political conflict," he said.