Supreme Court favors Alwi's PKB

JAKARTA: The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Alwi Shihab's leadership in the dispute with former chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) Matori Abdul Djalil over ownership of the party.

Justice Abdurrahman Saleh told reporters on Wednesday that the court upheld the decision of the Jakarta High Court, which ruled that Matori was acting unlawfully in using the party's name, logo and anthem.

"The plaintiff (Matori) could not support his argument," he said.

Matori won a different lawsuit against Alwi's PKB in the same case. Alwi's PKB has appealed to the Jakarta High Court. However, the court did not rule on which verdict should be used if the second is different from the former.

The dispute occurred following the dismissal of Matori as PKB chairman in 2001 by PKB chief patron Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid after the former attended the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in 2001, which led to Gus Dur's removal as president.

Matori later set up another party with the same name.

Alwi has announced that his party is giving consideration to changing the party's name to the National Awakening Party that is the same as the current name, isn't it? (PKN). -- JP