PPP committed to Moslem constituents
JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) is trying to convince Moslems it is the right party through which to channel their political interests.
Party chief Ismail Hasan Metareum assured party members in the Central Kalimantan capital of Palangkaraya yesterday that PPP has always voiced Moslems' interests in the law-making process.
"PPP legislators make sure that no law passed in the House of Representatives will hurt Moslem interests," he said in a written statement read out to a party gathering by deputy secretary general of the party, Muhammad Abduh Padare.
The PPP is a 1973 fusion of four Moslem parties: Nahdlatul Ulama, PSSI, Parmusi and Perti. With 62 seats in the House, it plays second fiddle to the ruling Golkar party.
In next year's general election, the Moslem-oriented party will compete with Golkar and the other minority party, the nationalist-Christian alliance Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
Ismail Hasan claimed that the PPP had successfully fought to include Moslems' interests in the making of laws on marriage, religious courts and national education system.
At present, the party is seeking to block the government- sponsored bill on juvenile courts that contains rulings incompatible with Islamic values, he said.
"Only PPP and ABRI reject the bill," Ismail Hasan told the party activists celebrating the party's 23rd anniversary.
In fighting for prospective Moslem voters, PPP faces stiff competition from Golkar, which has stronger financial and bureaucratic support.
Golkar leaders have visited influential Moslem preachers and Islamic boarding schools in Java in an obvious move to win their votes next year.
In an apparent reference to Golkar, Ismail Hasan said that a certain "contestant" has acted like a street hoodlum in its effort to ensure landslide victory in next year's election.
He said the contestant has lured PPP members with money and promises, pressuring them to join Golkar.
"They also threatened civil servants with dismissal if they have the audacity to vote for other political parties," he said in reference to the government's directive which makes it mandatory for civil servants to vote for Golkar.
Last month, more than 2,000 PPP activists in Sukabumi, West Java, quit the party and joined Golkar. PPP leaders have publicly alleged that Golkar was behind the move.
The same thing also happened in the East Java regency of Bondowoso, where several hundred PPP activists switched to Golkar on April 4.
If this trend continues, he said, an honest and democratic election in 1997 will remain an illusion, he said.
"President Soeharto's hope to make the forthcoming election a joyful time, not a time of dread, will not become a reality," he was quoted by Antara as saying.
In Surabaya, chief of the East Java chapter of Golkar Asril Harun reacted cautiously to the news of mass desertion of PPP members to Golkar.
Asril said it was possible that the PPP activists' mission was to infiltrate Golkar and undermine it from within.
"In the run-up to the 1992 election, hundreds of PPP members were reported to have joined Golkar but when election day came, they publicly changed their mind again," he said. (pan)