Scholars defend E. Java governor in PDI dispute
Scholars defend E. Java governor in PDI dispute
JAKARTA (JP): Three respected political observers challenged the widely-held belief that the government is to blame for the prolonged leadership conflict plaguing the East Java chapter of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
Nazaruddin Sjamsuddin, Afan Gaffar and Amir Santoso expressed similar opinions at a seminar yesterday that the East Java government has been encouraging the disputing PDI activists to settle the conflict among themselves.
"It's illogical to believe that the government is fanning the conflict to weaken the PDI in the run up to next year's general election," Nazaruddin of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said.
If it is true that the government aims to sabotage the PDI's performance in the upcoming election, it would have been meddling in the party's branches in other provinces as well, he added.
The seminar entitled Seeking solutions to the PDI East Java crisis organized by the Indonesian Society of Administrative Science angered PDI executives in Jakarta, who consider it intervention in the party's internal affairs.
The discussion analyzed the conflict that pins down Sutjipto, who won the support of the party' executive board, and Latief Pudjosakti who commands the government's sympathy.
As Sutjipto and Latief both claim to be the legitimate chief of the East Java party chapter, East Java governor Basofi Sudirman refuses to recognize either. He has left the PDI unrepresented in the 1997 provincial electoral board.
Party activists from the Sutjipto camp boycotted the seminar while three Latief loyalists from East Java addressed the forum as "resource persons".
Sani Setiadi, from the Latief camp, said the conflict stems from PDI central board chief Megawati Soekarnoputri's well-known Decree No. 043, which appointed Sutjipto after the July 12-13, 1994, congress failed to elect a new chapter chairman.
The decree was issued 10 days after five of the eight members of the electoral board she chaired had chosen Latief. "She trampled on the democratic principles the party means to uphold," he said.
He claimed that Latief's election received strong support from 32 of the party's 37 regency branches throughout East Java.
Afan Gaffar, a staff lecturer from Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, proposed that the East Java key officials, such as the local military commander, police chief and high court chief take the initiative to break the deadlock.
"Together with PDI executives they can choose a third person to take the chair," he said.
He recalled the time when in 1994 the Jakarta government helped legalize the disputed election of Megawati as the central board chairperson at the December 1993 extraordinary congress.
Amir Santoso and Afan said that the press' reporting on the PDI East Java debacle has, in general, been biased in favor of Sutjipto and butchered governor Basofi.
Amir, a political scholar from the University of Indonesia, Jakarta, said that many analysts have analyzed the East Java PDI crisis as essentially a conflict between the party central executives and the governor.
"The governor insists on refusing to acknowledge the validity of Decree No. 043 because he does not want to meddle in the PDI's internal affairs," he said.
Meanwhile, political scholar Riswandha Imawan of Gadjah Mada University said both governor Basofi and PDI chief Megawati are the victims of invisible "political adventurers".
The adventurers, he said, aims to exploit the weaknesses of both leaders for their political gains. He did not identify the "adventurers".
He recommended that the East Java PDI call another congress and elect a new chairman, who is neither Sutjipto or Latief. But he conceded that the move would not be easy as long as Megawati maintains that her choice of Sutjipto is irreversible. (pan/15)