Reform-minded members brace for PPP Reformasi

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Disgruntled followers of the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP) are planning to break away from the party they see as too old-fashioned and out of touch to attract younger voters.

On Thursday, they announced that party chairman Hamzah Haz has shown no signs of fulfilling their demands for a congress next year to rejuvenate party leadership.

Spearheaded by well-known preacher Zainuddin MZ, they have given Hamzah a deadline, ending this Saturday, for affirmation. Barring action, they said, the group will declare PPP Reformasi "very soon afterward."

Their demand for a congress in 2003 has been turned down. Pro- Hamzah party officials have insisted that the conference will not take place until 2004. Observers say this is a party tactic to exploit Hamzah's position as vice president to woo votes.

The disaffected members of the group say that, as the latest congress took place in 1998, the next should be in 2003 since the PPP constitution requires that a congress be held every five years.

Zainuddin, who is known as a key PPP leader, said in a written statement on Thursday that he refused to become a member of a team set up to design restructuring of the party, which was founded in 1973.

The restructuring plan aims to accommodate the demands of the cadres of disgruntled PPP members.

Zainuddin voiced fear that the team would only create a new problem. "The key word, I believe, is congress," Zainuddin said in a statement read during a press conference by Saleh Khalid, PPP deputy secretary.

Also present at the reporters' briefing was the chairman of PPP's Jakarta chapter, Dja'far Badjeber.

In a show of dissent, Zainuddin refused to attend a PPP anniversary celebration in Surabaya on Saturday, saying he would be "busy" with his regular job, and that he was yet to receive an invitation from Hamzah.

Last week, pro-Hamzah party officials claimed that they had managed to cool Zainuddin off, and that Zainuddin would drop his plan for PPP Reformasi.

The splinter group plans to nominate Zainuddin as its presidential candidate in the 2004 general election.

Saleh claimed that the plan to set up PPP Reformasi has received support from disgruntled PPP officials in 29 of Indonesia's 30 provinces, Antara reported.

"We will continue fighting for our cause, and we are not afraid of being dismissed," by Hamzah, he said.