Soerjadi calls on Megawati's supporters to join his camp

JAKARTA (JP): Chairman of the government-backed faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Soerjadi has called on supporters of his foe, ousted PDI chief Megawati Soekarnoputri, to jump her ship and climb aboard his own.

Soerjadi has offered to include Megawati's loyalists, whose number appears to have grown over the past weeks, in a preliminary list of PDI candidates for legislative councils that his camp is currently preparing.

"We have long expected that Megawati's supporters would agree to be included on our preliminary list of PDI legislators," Soerjadi told reporters yesterday.

He said he has been trying to persuade Megawati's supporters to join his camp for some time.

Soerjadi was elected in a government-sponsored congress in Medan, North Sumatra, last month. He replaced Megawati, who had rejected the congress as both unconstitutional and rigged by the government and the Armed Forces.

Yesterday Soerjadi said that he has yet to complete the list as his board is still waiting for names from PDI branches across the country.

He said that the deadline for the proposal of names for the regency and mayoralty legislative councils is Aug. 5; for the provincial legislative councils Aug. 10 and for the House of Representatives Aug. 15.

The three political contestants in next year's general election -- the United Development Party (PPP), Golkar, and the PDI -- are each required to submit preliminary lists of legislators to the Indonesian Elections Committee before Sept. 17, 1996.

"We're not in a hurry. Golkar and PPP have not submitted their preliminary lists of legislators either," he said.

Soerjadi also spoke about his stance on the issue of the party headquarters, currently occupied by Megawati loyalists.

He denied allegations that he had requested the help of the military to forcibly take control of the office, located on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta. "Do you really believe I would do that?" he asked.

Soerjadi, who is also deputy House Speaker, and his camp have set up a temporary headquarters at his official residence on Jl. Denpasar Raya in South Jakarta.

A group of Megawati's supporters kept an uninterrupted vigil at the headquarters on Monday night, after rumors emerged that a group of Soerjadi's men might take over the headquarters at dawn yesterday. The rumors did not prove to be correct.

In Surabaya, chairman of the PDI East Java chapter and Megawati loyalist Sutjipto said he was pessimistic that a new conference of the chapter would settle its leadership problems which have spanned the last two years.

His rival, Latief Pudjosakti, expressed a similar opinion, given the fact that the chapter has already disintegrated. (imn/15)