PPP plan to return to former identity as an Islamic party

JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) will return to its former identity as an Islamic party, which will be reflected in its new statute and the use of the Kaaba, the black holy shrine in Mecca, as its symbol, its chairman said on Monday.

Ismail Hasan Metareum said these will be among the issues discussed at a party congress which will begin on Sunday, Antara reported.

"PPP will return to its identity as a party inherited from Moslem ulamas and founded upon Islam," Metareum was quoted by reporters as he discussed the upcoming four-day extraordinary congress.

The congress will be opened by President B.J. Habibie at the Senayan sports stadium.

Ismail also announced that he would not run in the election for party chairman, leaving the field open to other aspirants, particularly two senior members of the party who are currently serving in Habibie's cabinet: Hamzah Haz of the ministry of investment and A.M. Saefuddin of the food and drug ministry.

The PPP was formed in 1972 out of a government-sponsored merger of four Islamic parties: Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Syarikat Islam, Perti, and Muslimin Indonesia. Run initially as an Islamic party, it was forced to shed its Islamic image and Kaaba symbol by a 1985 law requiring the three government-sanctioned political parties to adopt Pancasila as their sole ideology.

PPP won a major political victory during this month's Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly, when it succeeded in ending the government's Pancasila indoctrination programs.

Now the party, through the House of Representatives, is fighting to remove the clause which demands that political parties claim Pancasila as their sole ideology. The PPP leadership did not say what they planned to do if they failed in their campaign to have the clause removed.

The PPP, which has run a distant second to Golkar in the five general elections it has contested, will face stiff competition for Moslem votes from more than 10 new parties which also claim to represent the interests of Islam.

Metareum refuted the charges that PPP was exploiting the religion by using Islamic symbols. "When PPP was formed, the four political parties brought their respective symbols. The Kaaba was what united the party. This is our identity," he said.

On the election of a new chairman, Metareum said he had not groomed any "crown prince", and that the matter should be left entirely to the regional delegates in the congress because the central executive board had no say in the matter.

Metareum did not give any reason for his refusal to run again, but pointed out that he had already served two five-year terms.

Meanwhile, support for Saefuddin came from the Aceh and Riau branches of the PPP, while East Java said it will likely support Hamzah. West Java said it will support both candidates. Other branches have not announced their candidates.

Saefuddin sparked a national controversy last month when he derided the chances of Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party Perjuangan, to become Indonesia's next president. Accusing her of being a Hindu, Saefuddin questioned whether the majority Moslem Indonesians were ready to accept a non-Moslem as their president.

Megawati, a Moslem, has not responded to the remarks, but they brought an outcry of protests from hundreds of thousands of people in Bali, a predominantly Hindu province, who called for his expulsion from the cabinet for insulting their religion.

Riau branch chairman Wan Abubakar described Saefuddin as a reformist with enormous intellectual capability who is close to the academic community and to the people. "He has been vocal for a long time," Abubakar said.

East Java branch chairman Syumli Syadli said the province will likely endorse Hamzah because, after representing the PPP in the House for so many years and heading the party in the House for two terms, he has the right qualities to lead the party.

As minister of investment under Habibie, Hamzah succeeded in creating a positive image to foreign investors, Syumli said.

He added that Hamzah is also a well-known NU figure, and could therefore win some NU votes in the election, particularly in East Java.

Antara meanwhile reported that Baharuddin Lopa, the secretary general of the National Commission on Human Rights, has also been mentioned as a possible candidate to lead the party.

However, Lopa, who heads the PPP's board of experts, said that he was not running for the post. "The candidate has already been picked by Allah," he said.

Meanwhile the party's provincial board of Semarang, Central Java, stated Monday it would likely nominate Hamzah Haz as the new chairman in the congress, given overwhelming support for him.

"If Hamzah becomes chairman we expect that he should not hold a position in the executive, he should step down from his ministerial post," Thoyfoer, the board's deputy told The Jakarta Post, so Hamzah could concentrate on the party. (emb/har)