PPP leaders move to suppress internal conflicts
JAKARTA (JP): Top officials of the United Development Party (PPP) and the largest Moslem organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) struck a deal yesterday to suppress their political rift.
PPP chief Ismail Hasan Metareum led a strong seven-member team from the party's central executive board to meet with Jusuf Hasyim, chairman of NU's law-making body (syuriah) and one of Indonesia's most influential Moslem scholars.
The unprecedented meeting came only a day after NU chairman Abdurrahman Wahid called on its 34 million members to shun the Moslem-backed PPP if the August congress fails to elect an NU figure as its new chairman.
"We agreed to seek ways of how to end the infighting or at least suppress it from surfacing," Jusuf told journalists after the two hour meeting held behind the closed doors at the Manari Restaurant. He declined to go into details.
Formed in 1973, PPP is an amalgam of four Moslem parties: NU, Muslimin Indonesia, Syarikat Islam Indonesia and PERTI.
Although NU claims the largest membership, PPP leadership has always been dominated by politicians from Muslimin Indonesia. Metareum is also identified with this group.
Jusuf, whose other hat is as a member of the Association of Indonesian Moslem Intellectuals' (ICMI) council of scholars, said he and the PPP top executives from different groups were "trying to unite their vision" on the upcoming congress.
He said he personally would accept whoever is elected by the August congress. "What really matters is that the leader puts PPP's interests above his personal ones."
According to Jusuf, the meeting did not touch on who should take the next PPP chair but did stress that the party's leader must be able to communicate with the bureaucracy, other political organizations and the public.
Asked why PPP secretary general Matori Abdul Djalil, a strong contender along with Ismail Hasan in the leadership race, was conspicuously absent from the meeting, Jusuf quipped: "because there were only enough chairs for eight."
Ismail Hasan refused to comment on the talks.
Open challenge
The meeting was apparently aimed at erasing the impression that the political rivalry between figures from NU and Muslimin Indonesia for the next party chair is getting out of hand.
In the latest open challenge to Muslimin Indonesia's domination, Abdurrahman said on Tuesday that the PPP helm must go to a figure from NU.
"What an irony," he said, "NU members make up most of the party's supporters but why should we choose a party leader from another group."
While he keeps telling NU members to stay away from PPP, Abdurrahman keeps the public guessing if he would finally take his supporters' challenge to run for PPP chairmanship.
NU, who has its strongest base in rural areas of Java, was once a strong political party but was convinced to return to its educational mission and retreated from formal politics in 1984.
In the ongoing battle for the party's top spot, NU has fielded at least two figures: Matori Abdul Djalil, the incumbent secretary general, and Hamzah Haz, an outspoken legislator.
There is now speculation that Muslimin Indonesia and NU are arranging a deal on the outcome of the congress in Jakarta.
Last week, for example, Matori, Abdurrahman held a secret meeting with the chairman of Muslimin Indonesia H.J. Naro in Surabaya but none were willing to disclose the content of their talks.
Senior PPP politicians identified with NU last month also held a private meeting in Jakarta during which they agreed that the party's number one post should now go to NU.
They also appointed five ulemas to look into potential candidates and prepare for their election. (pan)