PKB renames Matori and Muhaimin top officials
SURABAYA (JP): The first congress of the National Awakening Party (PKB) wound up on Thursday with Matori Abdul Djalil and Muhaimin Iskandar reappointed as party chairman and secretary- general for the next five years.
Vice President Megawati officially declared the congress closed, with a call for the party to work together with all parts of the nation to uphold a spirit of nationalism.
"PKB with its religion-based supporters is highly appreciated for its nationalist vision," Megawati, who is chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), said.
She also called on the nation to avoid blaming the nation's current woes solely on past regimes, saying this could cut off certain episodes of the country's history.
"We'd rather learn the best things from the past and throw out the bad ones," she told congress attendants packing the Sukolilo haj dormitory.
Earlier, in the party's political message read by party executive John Wuwu, the PKB reminded the nation of the danger of elements of the New Order.
"PKB is very concerned about an effort to topple the government since any new government would experience the same things," the message said.
Outside the venue, at least 100 members of the Indonesian Islamic Student Movement (PMII) staged a rally demanding Megawati remain vigilant of the return of New Order elements.
In the morning session, reelected party chairman Matori announced the party's board of executives. Several names from outside Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization and the establisher of the PKB, were included.
"But, the composition is yet complete. It will be finalized in November," he said.
He admitted that Lt. Gen. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is also minister of mines and energy, had been proposed to become the party's deputy chairman but was waiting for his retirement from the Army in November.
A former chairman of Pemuda Muhammadiyah, the youth wing of the country's second largest Muslim organization Muhammadiyah, Chabib Chirzin, was elected to the party's executive. Another Muhammadiyah activist, Sugiat A.S, was appointed to the legislative body.
PKB also named Nico Krisnanto, a Catholic and Chinese Indonesian businessman, as its deputy treasurer.
Foreign minister Alwi Shihab was reappointed the party's deputy chairman, while State Minister of Women's Empowerment Khofifah Indar Parawansa was chosen as a member of the party's supervisory body.
Matori, who is deputy speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly, was named by the party's new chief patron President Abdurrahman Wahid on Wednesday night.
In Jakarta, political observers labeled PKB's selection of its chairman another setback to the practice of democracy in the country. They even likened the way incumbent Matori Abdul Djalil was renamed to the way Golkar named its chairmen under the New Order regime of former president Soeharto.
Sociologist La Ode Ida from the Center for Regional Development Studies said by choosing President Abdurrahman Wahid as chairman of the party's influential board of patrons, PKB had moved to declare itself the ruling party.
"This is definitely a reproduction of the New Order regime and maybe worse, because, unlike Soeharto, Abdurrahman clearly emerges as the sole decision maker within the PKB," Ida said on Thursday.
Another political observer, Arbi Sanit, said NU's domination over PKB would hinder the party's effort to become "open".
"Its wish to emerge an open party remains jargon. It is still an exclusive party," Arbi remarked. (jun/nur/dja)