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)