Fresh internal rift beleaguers PKB

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 11/18/2003 9:59 AM

JAKARTA: With general elections fast approaching, the Muslim-based National Awakening Party (PKB) must deal with another internal rift, following the party's decision to disband its branch executive board in Bondowoso, East Java early this month.

According to the party's central executive board members, PKB Bondowoso had failed to settle a conflict over the formation of its board of leadership in early 2002.

However, Achmad Fawaid As'ad, former advisory board chairman of PKB Bondowoso, challenged the decision, saying that he would file ""legal and political revenge.""

""No more PKB,"" he told reporters on Monday, suggesting that the disbandment of PKB Bondowoso was connected to rumors that he had supported the dismissal of former president Abdurrahman ""Gus Dur"" Wahid in 2001.

He said several political parties, such as the United Development Party and Golkar, had invited him to join them.

Fawaid heads an influential Islamic boarding school in Bondowoso, which boasts 13,000 students.

Earlier, PKB was also rocked by an internal rift over Gus Dur's plan to dismiss party secretary general Syaifullah Jusuf. After a prolonged polemic, the party decided to retain Syaifullah until after the legislative election in April 2004.

PKB, which was founded by Nahlatul Ulama in 1999, split into two in 2001 over Gus Dur's impeachment for incompetence.

NU, the country's biggest Muslim organization, claims to have around 40 million members across the country. --JP

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