PPP chapter leadership taken over

PPP chapter leadership taken over

JAKARTA (JP): The outgoing leadership of the Jakarta chapter of the United Development Party (PPP) has announced that it will continue to lead the party chapter until the Central Board decides on a new executive for the region.

The announcement, which is signed by the chapter chairman, H. M. Djoefri, was made available to the press over the weekend.

It followed the failure of the recent provincial congress to elect a new board for the Jakarta PPP for the 1995-2000 term and the decision by the party's chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum and Secretary General Tosari Wijaya to assume responsibility for appointing Djoefri's successor in the chapter.

The announcement said that the election of Arifin Arbain as new chapter chairman, by three out of five members of the electoral committee, was illegal because it was done after the congress had been closed at midnight on Jan. 6.

Ismail has said that the new board for Jakarta will be chosen after he returns from Kuala Lumpur on Feb. 18. He will be in the Malaysian capital from Feb. 15 at the invitation of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Djoefri said that the central board was certain to appoint Rusjdi Hamka, one of the candidates.

However, Arifin and his colleagues have protested against the central board's measures, saying that "it is a theft of our authority."

"The central board's step is an arbitrary action: it has no right whatever to take over the authority from us," Arifin said recently.

He added that he would continue with his program whether the central board recognized him or not. (tis)