Tension mounts as major PPP congress nears
Tension mounts as major PPP congress nears
JAKARTA (JP): Three books on the United Development Party
(PPP) were published separately on the eve of the party's major
congress, as the various competing factions and individuals
stayed locked in psychological warfare to try and influence the
outcome of the gathering.
Tension started mounting as the congress participants began to
arrive, yesterday, to occupy the huge Haj Dormitory in Pondok
Gede, East Jakarta, which will be the main venue of the meeting.
Most the delegates will be arriving today and tomorrow.
President Soeharto is scheduled to deliver his keynote address
to the congress of the PPP, Indonesia's second largest political
party after Golkar.
The party is the result of a 1973 fusion of four Islamic
parties -- Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Muslimin Indonesia (MI), Sarekat
Islam (SI) and Perti. The four have retained their existence as
mass organizations and are considered factions within the party.
The main agenda of the meeting is the election of the party's
chairman, a crucial issue which many party insiders say could
make or break the party's future.
Many believe that PPP's chances in the 1997 general election
are threatened by the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), under
the popular leadership of Megawati Soekarnoputri, which is
looking more and more likely to sneak into second place and knock
the PPP back. Golkar, now under the chairmanship of Harmoko, has
also vowed to increase its shares of the vote in 1997.
Book launching
Sri Bintang Pamungkas, a vocal PPP legislator and one of the
chairmanship aspirants, launched his book Demokrasi Ekonomi Dan
Pembangunan (Economic Democracy and Development) last night which
contains his thoughts about the party's future.
The Forum Komunikasi Nahdlatul Ummah Nusantara (Forum Konun),
a newly formed group within the PPP, also launched a book on
Friday, to present an alternative approach to the party's
strategy for the upcoming election.
The forum is considered to be a support group of incumbent
chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum, the leading candidate in the
election race at the PPP congress next week.
Mohammad Rodja of the party's Jakarta chapter also launched a
book entitled PPP Problema dan Prospek (PPP's Problems and
Prospects), to give congress participants something to ponder.
Bintang is campaigning on a reformist platform. Considered a
dark horse and an outsider, Bintang says he has the support of
the party's young supporters.
Ismail Hasan has the support of the majority of the party's
provincial and regency level branches whose leaders will be
taking part in the congress and hold the key to the election
outcome.
In the run up to the congress, the factions in the party are
also locked in an intense power struggle. Each one has already
drafted their proposals for the line up of the seven members of
the "formatters", the board which will deliberate and appoint the
chairman and the other members of the executive board.
The real contest is between NU, by far the largest of the four
factions, and the MI, which has always dominated the party's
leadership thanks largely to the support of the government.
Ismail Hasan also hails from MI.
This time, NU is determined to wrest the chairmanship from MI,
and is further encouraged by the government's promise that it
will stay out of the chairmanship race.
NU's chief candidate is Matori Abdul Djalil, the current PPP
secretary general, who in the last two weeks have distanced
himself from Ismail Hasan's leadership which he considered a
failure.
Other possible candidates for the race Hamzah Haz, Yusuf
Hasyim, Karmani, Cholil Badawi, Hartono Mardjono, Husnie Thamrin,
Yudo Paripurno and H.M Dault. (par/swe)