PPP wants to replace Hamzah Haz
Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The internal strife in the United Development Party (PPP) appears to be worsening after members gathered for informal talks over the weekend demanded that the party bring forward its congress to the end of the year from the scheduled 2007, citing the need for reform and regeneration in the party.
The demand to hold an early congress was signed by 602 participants who came from 94 out of the party's 452 provincial and regental branches at the conclusion of the two-day meeting on Saturday.
In their statement, the participants said the snap congress was aimed at reforming the party, whose popularity has been on the decline. The party won 9.25 million voters (8.15 percent of the total vote) in the 2004 legislative election compared to 11.3 million (10.7 percent) in 1999.
The PPP secured 58 House of Representatives seats in last year's legislative election, the same number as it garnered in the previous general election in 1999. The party's bid to win the presidential election, however, faltered in the first round.
PPP deputy chairman Suryadharma Ali said he was seeking an immediate meeting with party leader Hamzah Haz.
"It would be too much if the central board rejected such a good recommendation. It's a matter of introspection," Suryadharma told a media conference on Sunday, as quoted by detikcom.
However, he added that Hamzah had the right to reject the recommendation.
Suryadharma, who is also State Minister for Cooperatives and Small and Medium Enterprises, was among the participants at the informal meeting. He has been deputized to convey the recommendation to Hamzah.
The informal gathering marked an escalating conflict in one of the biggest Islam-based parties in the country.
The PPP central board had formally banned party members from attending the gathering, saying it was an attempt to break up the party.
"This informal gathering was aimed at undermining the party. It was simply a forum for some party executives to express their discontent with the party. It's a betrayal," said Mahmud F. Rakasima, the PPP's research and development division deputy head, as quoted by Antara.
Another party executive, Wall Paragoan, branded the informal gathering as the worst tragedy ever in the party's history.
"The party has to uphold its dignity by sacking the executives (who held the gathering)," he said.
Wall added that if some party members were bent on internal reform, they should have channeled this through the official mechanisms.
"If they had good intentions, they wouldn't have held the informal gathering, which was a waste of money and little more than a political maneuver," he said.
Meanwhile, party executive Ngudi Astuti said it was out of line for the party to intimidate members who wished to improve the party's fortunes.
"This informal gathering should be viewed as a sort of consolidation to help develop the party," she was quoted by Kompas daily as saying.
The first signs of dissension within the party came in 1998 when a number of party executives, including popular cleric Zainuddin M.Z., split from the party and formed the PPP Reformasi. The new party did not make it to the 1999 election, but later in 2004, after changing its name to the Star Reform Party (PBR), it managed to finish among the top 13 parties competing in that year's general election.