Yogie, Feisal keep hands off PDI's affairs

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. and Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung yesterday kept out of the affairs of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) following a military statement that one of its leaders may have a past communist link.

"It's PDI's internal affair," Gen. Feisal told reporters before attending a cabinet meeting.

Yogie said he had not received the official report from the Siliwangi Military Command in West Java which announced early this week it had discovered that the chairman of the province's PDI chapter was involved in communist activities in the 1960s.

"Once I receive the report we'll study it. We'll follow the rules from there, including what action to take," said Yogie, who was also attending the cabinet meeting.

The allegation first came from the opponents of Djadjang Kurniadi, the PDI West Java chief. The local military then checked his background and confirmed that Djadjang is suspected of once having had communist links.

The announcement by the Siliwangi command on Monday prompted PDI chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri to call an emergency meeting at the party's headquarters in Jakarta on Tuesday. The meeting however had to be canceled because it did not meet the required quorum.

Megawati said PDI had not been officially informed about the finding and deplored the Siliwangi chief spokesman Lt. Col. Herman Ibrahim having gone public with the information, by holding a media conference, without even trying to talk to Djadjang beforehand.

"Have compassion for his family," she said as quoted by the Antara news agency.

The least they could do is to ask him about the allegation before making it public, she added.

Megawati, whose own leadership has been undermined by internal dissensions, has sided with Djadjang in the dispute within the West Java chapter of the party. If the allegation of a past communist link is confirmed, it will virtually finish Djadjang's career.

According to the Siliwangi command, Djadjang was a member of the pro-communist camp in the Indonesian Nationalist Party. In 1965, he along with three other men openly supported the communist-inspired coup against President Sukarno.

He managed to clear his tracks by obtaining a letter from the Siliwangi command clearing him of any communist past and which stated he had been working as an informant for the military. The letter was issued by a military officer who later turned out to be a communist himself, so the allegation goes.

Meanwhile, H.S.A. Yussac, the chief spokesman for the Ministry of Home Affairs yesterday said that Djadjang will be allowed to defend and clear his name through the courts of law if he feels that the allegation has discredited him.

"It's his decision. He has the right to defend himself," Yussac told Antara.

But he questioned PDI's pledge of loyalty to the state ideology Pancasila and its commitment to reject communism in all forms. (emb)