PPP begins working meeting ahead of MPR special session

PPP begins working meeting ahead of MPR special session

JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) began a two-
day national working meeting on Thursday, with officials
expecting the party to give top party figures the freedom to
maneuver in the fluid political situation expected to develop
over the next few weeks.

When it closes its meeting here on Friday, the party will
likely have adopted a similar wait-and-see approach to that of
the Golkar Party, allowing its central executive board to make
whatever adjustments may be deemed necessary to its position
during the People's Consultative Assembly special session.

The PPP, the third largest party in the House of
Representatives, has brought in representatives from all 30 of
its branches for the meeting.

"However, the party is likely to leave all decisions and moves
during the special session up to our central executive board and
chairman," the party's secretary-general Alimarwan Hanan told The
Jakarta Post on Thursday.

He underlined that the main point of the meeting was to unite
perceptions ahead of the special session and to listen to the
aspirations of the party's branches across the country.

When asked about the possibility that party chairman Hamzah
Haz may be receiving support to run for the vice presidency at
the coming special session, Alimarwan said that the matter would
not be explicitly dealt with at the meeting.

"We won't nominate any candidates for the vice presidency. The
executive board will consider that during the special session,"
he remarked.

The country may see a final showdown at the special session,
slated for Aug. 1, with the possibility of President Abdurrahman
Wahid being replaced by Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Should this transpire, Hamzah's name has been tipped as one of
the possible candidates for the vice presidency.

The PPP is the fourth major party to convene a national
working meeting ahead of the Assembly special session, after the
National Mandate Party (PAN), Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and Golkar party.

The meeting was opened by Hamzah Haz and its decisions will be
officially announced on Friday.

"We will not push for a vice president to be named because we
are still considering the current political moves ahead of the
special session," Alimarwan remarked.(dja)