Support grows for Matori's PKB chief bid

Support grows for Matori's PKB chief bid

JAKARTA (JP): Support is growing for incumbent National
Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Matori Abdul Djalil to retain his
post.

The party's Jakarta chapter was the latest to nominate Matori,
who is also the deputy speaker of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR), for a new five-year term in the top job, citing
his competence in living up to the party's ideal of becoming an
open political organization.

"Pak Matori is the only person capable of leading the PKB in
its aspirations to become an open party as Gus Dur had expected,"
the chapter's secretary Isa Muchsin said on the sidelines of a
seminar held by the party at the Kartika Chandra Hotel in South
Jakarta.

Isa said all PKB branches in Jakarta unanimously voted for
Matori's candidacy during the chapter's recent executive meeting.
The meeting also saw the nomination of Gus Dur, as the PKB's co-
founder President Abdurrahman Wahid is widely known, as the chief
of the party's law making body.

The PKB is commonly associated with the country's largest
Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama, which Abdurrahman led for 15
years before his election as President last October. The party
finished fourth in last year's general election with 12 percent
of the vote behind the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle,
the Golkar Party and the United Development Party.

Matori is expected to face a tough challenge from foreign
minister Alwi Shihab in the election of a PKB chief for the 2000-
2005 term, which will be held during a congress in Surabaya
between July 23 and July 27.

Other supporters for Matori's bid include branches in West
Kalimantan, South Kalimantan, South Sulawesi, all of the Sumatra
provinces, West Java and Central Java, according to Isa.

He denied reports that East Java had unanimously rejected
Matori's nomination and opted for Alwi's instead.

"Muslim clerics in East Java, one of them being Kyai
Amanullah, have given their blessings for Matori's reelection,"
Isa said.

Chief of the PKB's East Java chapter, Choirul Anam, claimed
recently that the party's branches in the province would fight
for Alwi due to his knowledge of Islam and his intellectual
capability.

"As a modern intellectual and an expert on Islam, Alwi will
provide the party with a new atmosphere," Anam said.

He added that East Java would look for an alternative if
Abdurrahman refused to let go of Alwi as his aide, but the
substitute would definitely not be Matori.

Anam attributed East Java's opposition to Matori's reelection
bid to his failure to secure the set target of 24 percent of the
vote in last year's general election.

Matori is also seen as an undisciplined leader and inelegant
in his presentation of the party's views, according to Anam.

"He's almost never called for an executive meeting to respond
to current issues. He is also prone to taking matters into his
own hands without prior consultation with other members of the
central executive board," Anam said.

But leading PKB executive Muhaimin Iskandar predicted Matori's
win in the upcoming election, thanks to his leadership skills.

"So far the party remains solid under his leadership. There
has been no conflicts within the party," said Muhaimin, who is
also the deputy speaker of the House of Representatives.

"If some weaknesses were found during his tenure, it was just
a matter of time. The party was born just ahead of the general
election and the General Session of the People's Consultative
Assembly."

Muhaimin said he believed that if Matori served a full five-
year term, the party would emerge as a big player.

Matori was cautious on Thursday in responding to the growing
support for his nomination. "There will be no rivalry during the
congress. We've just returned from a big war and everybody is
fighting selfishness now," he said philosophically. (10)