Pressure mounts for Megawati to quit PDI Perjuangan chair
Pressure mounts for Megawati to quit PDI Perjuangan chair
The Jakarta Post, Jayapura/Jakarta
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has been urged to resign from
her position as the chairperson of Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) in order to maintain the party's unity.
Kamarudin Watubun, head of Papua's chapter of PDI Perjuangan,
told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that the demand had nothing to
do with loyalty, rather a need to keep the party solid.
His statement came just three days after the party's senior
advisor Roeslan Abdulgani called on Megawati to focus on her
state duties.
On Monday the National Resilience Institute Governor Ermaya
Suradinata turned up the pressure, saying that all state
officials should abandon their party posts and concentrate on
state duties to help bring the country out of crisis.
Watubun said the party's leaders agreed that Megawati could no
longer chair the party due to time constraints from state
activities.
"But there are a number of the party's elite members who
recognize Megawati as a figure who could bind both the party and
the nation. They will just take advantage of Megawati's dual role
to obtain either power or money," Watubun added.
An internal conflict has shaken PDI Perjuangan over the past
few weeks, which was marked by the resignation of prominent
figures Sophan Sophiaan and Dimyati Hartono from the People's
Consultative Assembly and House of Representatives.
Watubun said PDI Perjuangan should manage its organization
without having to rely on one person. He added that he had
already suggested Megawati resign as chairwoman in the party's
coordinating meeting in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar
recently.
But, Sutjipto, the party's secretary general, announced that
PDI Perjuangan would keep Megawati's control over the party
intact.
"The majority in the party decided to maintain Mega as PDI
Perjuangan's chairwoman," Sutjipto said after the party's weekly
meeting on Tuesday. "Moreover, there is no law that bars a person
from holding both state and party positions."
He said it was the party's advisory board, in which Roeslan is
a member, which suggested in a letter dated Aug. 7, 2001 that
Megawati keep her top post in the party despite the fact that she
had assumed the presidency.
Sutjipto further warned the advisory board members against
speaking in contradiction of party regulations, but asked them to
directly address such issues to the party executives.
While Megawati's departure from PDI Perjuangan's top job is
unlikely, People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais had a
different view.
"I'm not joking about my plan to give up my position in the
party. Give me one or two weeks to share this idea with my
colleagues and there will be a decision," Amien said at the
legislative complex.
Amien chairs the National Awakening Party.
He said the party executives would meet on Friday to discuss
the possibility of him resigning as chairman.
"It's a good, reasonable and wise idea, but I need time to
discuss it with all my friends. If it yields more benefits than
costs, why not?" Amien said.
Separately, observer Azyumardi Azra warned of abuse of power
if a person held both government and party positions.
"There should be a distinction between the two positions to
minimize the possibility of misusing public facilities for the
interests of certain political parties," Azyumardi told
journalists after meeting Vice President Hamzah Haz on Tuesday.
"Public pressure should be intensified because most
legislators from political parties represented at the House would
be happy to have access to the government in order to secure the
party's interests."