PPP denies making alliance with Megawati
JAKARTA (JP): An angry Ismail Hasan Metareum lashed out yesterday at people circulating placards which said his United Development Party (PPP) had formed an alliance with Megawati Soekarnoputri to topple President Soeharto.
He denied there was an alliance with the deposed Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) chairwoman, and said his party was not seeking drastic reform through a coup.
"I've never met Megawati nor agreed to a political coalition with her," Ismail said at his home in Kuningan, South Jakarta.
He said he had to publicly declare his innocence after the PPP leadership had found the placards urging people to join the Mega- bintang coalition and change the national leadership.
He said the PPP had never intended to join a movement pushing for a drastic change of government. "We want democratic and constitutional change in the government, instead," he said.
The placards were found Wednesday during a PPP rally in East Jakarta.
Banners and yells in support of an alliance between Megawati and the PPP have become the highlight of many PPP campaigns. There have also been reports of Megawati loyalists joining the PPP.
The government has banned banners and pictures on the alliance.
The Ministry of Information's secretary-general, Tonny Soekaton, denied yesterday the PPP's allegation that he had committed electoral fraud to help Golkar win the May 29 election. He said he had never issued an inter-office memo instructing the ministry's employees to get extra ballot papers for polling day.
"It's untrue. I have never issued such a memo," Tonny told reporters yesterday, while displaying his own version of the memo.
He said the memo was meant to be an instruction for staff to cast their votes at polling booths near the ministry.
On Thursday, PPP deputy secretary-general Bachtiar Chamsyah revealed a memo from Tonny which instructed staff living in West Java to apply for temporary identity cards in Jakarta. With the Jakarta identity card, employees would be able to vote twice, Bachtiar said.
After declaring his innocence, Tonny said he would not sue the PPP for slander.
"For the sake of the nation's unity, I will not sue the PPP. After all, I have reported this case to the Election Supervision Committee," he said.
On Tonny's defense statement, PPP secretary-general Tosari Wijaya said the PPP central board had predicted that the government official would deny the allegation.
Tosari said he was sure of the allegation, which had supporting factors.
"A few months ago, several employees from different departments telephoned the PPP central board, with similar stories about the circulation of an inter-office memo, asking employees to obtain Jakarta identity cards," he said.
He said the PPP central board was prepared for the secretary- general to sue.
Jakarta governor Soerjadi Soedirdja, whose name was mentioned in the PPP-released version of the memo, denied the allegation.
"The circular encouraged the employees to cast their votes near their office," he said after meeting President Soeharto yesterday.
The memo also said the Jakarta and West Java administrations had agreed to help government employees working in Jakarta but living in West Java with their identity card applications.
The PPP's campaign in Ujungpandang yesterday was marred with fighting between its supporters and Golkar's.
About 50,000 enthusiastic PPP supporters went to the Permunas state-subsidized housing complex's field to follow a PPP rally, featuring Saleh Khalid.
Among the crowd were people carrying banners and yelling support for the Megawati-PPP alliance.
Some of the supporters, wearing PPP green clothing with "Mega- bintang (Star)" inscriptions, carried banners reading: "PPP's not the state's enemy"; and "PPP is a national asset, deserving protection".
In Semarang, the chief of the Central Java provincial General Elections Committee, Soewardi, instructed security personnel to investigate the stabbing of PPP Temanggung branch chief H.P.M. Imron by unidentified people Wednesday evening. (imn/30/37/24/wah/aan)