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."