Puppet leader may emerge from congress

Puppet leader may emerge from congress

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): The rebel congress to be
held on Thursday by a splinter group of the Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI) may result in the birth of a puppet leader, an
observer says.

Kausar Bailusy, a lecturer at Hasanuddin University's School
of Social and Political Sciences, said yesterday that the planned
congress would not solve problems as some officials have
previously suggested.

Instead, it will only deepen the rift between supporters of
the incumbent chief Megawati Soekarnoputri and those of the
breakaway faction which has been supported by a number of
government officials, he said.

The best possible outcome of the congress is the emergence of
a puppet leader, he said.

The question of a potential replacement for Megawati has been
widely discussed, along with whether the planned congress is
constitutional. The leader of the breakaway faction, deputy chief
Fatimah Achmad, has disclaimed interest in the chair. Former
chairman Soerjadi, who was ousted by Megawati in the party's 1993
congress, has also said he is not interested in the position.

He later changed his mind however and said that he would be
willing to chair the party should the congress elect him.

Political scientist Maswadi Rauf, of the University of
Indonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences in Jakarta,
called Soerjadi's retraction a bad move. Soerjadi, who is
currently deputy House Speaker, risked tarnishing his name as a
politician, he said.

"Those already suspicious of him would be convinced that he
was really the mastermind of the demand for the congress,"
Maswadi said. "He'll be a laughing stock."

Maswadi said that Soerjadi, should he be elected, would face
not only resistance from PDI members but lose whatever political
independence he might still have left.

"He wouldn't be able to retain his independence," Maswadi
said.

Voting

Regarding the congress, Bailusy speculated that some "external
elements" might have manipulated the existing conflict within the
party so that it progressed into the breakaway faction's push for
the fresh chairman election.

Bailusy did not identify the "elements" but pointed out that
PDI has been growing in popularity for several years at the
expense of its rivals -- the ruling Golkar and the United
Development Party. "If PDI becomes increasingly popular and wins
more votes, Golkar would surely feel threatened," he said.

The political situation may create in some people an apathy
great enough to convince them to abstain from general elections
altogether, he said.

Separately, in Surabaya, East Java, former Armed Forces (ABRI)
chief of general affairs Lt. Gen. (ret) H.B.L. Mantiri called on
Indonesian youths not to abstain from voting. "Voting is part of
your participation in developing this nation," he said.

Mantiri was responding to a student participant at a seminar
held at Petra University who said he was so disappointed by the
current political situation that he was considering not voting.

"I don't want to vote because the existing political system
does not guarantee a fair and honest general election," the
student said.

Mantiri, recently appointed ambassador to Singapore, said
that "politics is always marked with conflicts of interests of
various groups."

"We should be aware of this and refuse to be pitted against
one another, refuse to be involved in conflicts," Mantiri said.
"We should always try to find solutions to problems through
discussion."

Mantiri said that social diversity can be positive, but may
also adversely affect national integration. He suggested that the
students learn from a saying whose acronym is WORLD.

"Wisdom from God, Obedience to God, Reliance on God, Love of
God, Diligence to God," he said. "My advice is simple: leave
everything to God." (20/15/swe)