PPP wants to replace Hamzah Haz

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.