Violence mars PAN congress

Violence mars PAN congress

Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post/Semarang

Violence marred the second day of the National Mandate Party's
(PAN) national congress on Friday after a significant number of
participants failed to obtain registration cards.

The violence has not only blemished PAN's reputation as being
a middle class and reform-minded party, but also made the
competition much fiercer among those vying for the PAN
leadership.

The fracas began in the morning when a group of PAN members
were about to register as congress participants. The registration
process went smoothly. But later, it turned violent when some
people, who said they were PAN members from Papua, Bali and other
areas, were still not given registration cards even though they
had been issued with cards by the committee on the first day of
the congress on Thursday.

The cards are required in order to be able to vote for the PAN
leader, who will head the party from 2005 and 2010.

Enraged by their failure to get cards, those who had been
denied went on a rampage, turning over tables and breaking
glasses on the floor of the lobby of the Patra Jasa Hotel in
Semarang, the capital of Central Java province. The congress
committee attempted to calm down them down but to no avail.

Amien Rais, the outgoing PAN leader, who is still very popular
among PAN members, stepped in to stop the violence.

Along with outgoing PAN secretary-general Hatta Radjasa, Amien
assembled the chairmen of all of the party's chapters and
branches nationwide in order to resolve the dispute peacefully.

After the meeting, Amien explained to the media that the
problem had arisen as some executives of party's chapters and
branches claimed that they had been elected by the PAN central
board as party regional executives, while at the same time others
contested the legality of the resolutions. "Thus, all those
people were claiming that they had the right to participate in
the congress," said Amien.

At last, the committee selected those participants who were
eligible to participate in the congress, much to the
disappointment of those who were not selected. Among these were
Nurhasan, a secretary with PAN's Cimahi regency branch, who
claimed that he was in possession of a resolution dated Dec. 20
last year stating that he was a PAN regional executive. "There is
are efforts afoot to ensure the victory of a certain candidate in
the leadership race," said Nurhasan, who was barred from
participating in the congress.

The dispute, which had brought the congress to a standstill,
finally dissipated after Amien led a prayer to cool things down.
As of last night, 18 out of a total of 33 party chapters had
accepted Amien's accountability report.

The dispute, nevertheless, raised the tension in the
competition for the PAN leadership. Seven people have nominated
themselves for the leadership post, but there will only be two
candidates left on the final day of the race, namely, Soetrisno
Bachir, who is backed by Amien Rais and rich businessman Fuad
Bawazier. Hatta Radjasa was also one of the chairman hopefuls,
but there is speculation that he withdrew from the race after a
meeting with Amien Rais.