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.