Saifullah to sue PKB

Saifullah to sue PKB

JAKARTA: State Minister for the Development of Disadvantaged
Regions Saifullah Yusuf said on Friday he will press ahead with
his plan to sue the National Awakening Party (PKB) for dismissing
him as the party's secretary-general.

"I have tried to reconcile with party executives, but it has
been fruitless. I think a legal move would be a lesson for all of
us, that you can't kick people out just because they have
different ideas," he said after opening a three-day working
meeting of Ansor, the youth wing of the country's largest Muslim
organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in Jakarta.

Saifullah's move came ahead of the PKB national congress in
mid-April, in which he will contest for the party's top post.

He was dismissed last October along with current chief welfare
minister Alwi Shihab from the PKB central board for joining the
Cabinet of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whom the party did not
support.

Saifullah, also the current Ansor leader, is likely to win
another five-year term as the group's head, defeating his
contenders -- Arifin Hakim Thoha and Sudjono Djalil. --JP