Muhaimin support unanimous in rival congress

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sun, 05/04/2008 2:32 AM  |  Headlines

Dismissed National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar gained full support during an extraordinary meeting on Saturday, when his accountability report was accepted by all party executives in attendance.

"The report was accepted without any note," said PKB lawmaker Ida Fauziah, who supports Muhaimin.

The meeting was attended by 31 of the 33 provincial party executives, and all executives present approved Muhaimin's accountability report.

Ida said the executives also rejected Muhaimin's dismissal as party chairman, while some demanded Muhaimin be re-elected to the position.

Muhaimin, who is the House of Representatives deputy speaker, was ousted as party chairman late March at the behest of the party's chief patron Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid. The decision has divided the PKB into two: Muhaimin on one side, and Gus Dur and daughter Yenny Wahid, who is the party's secretary-general, on the other.

Both camps are seeking to register with the General Election Commission (KPU) and the Law and Human Rights Ministry to contest at the 2009 general elections. The KPU had said the double leadership parties, including the PKB, must resolve their internal rift before the May 12 deadline.

Rival Gus Dur's camp finished its extraordinary meeting in Parung, Bogor Regency, on March 30 and April 1. The meeting elected lawmaker Ali Masykur Musa as the new party chairman, but Muhaimin's camp has taken legal action against the decision.

In his accountability report, Muhaimin, who is also Gus Dur's nephew, accused Yenny of being "a person who is responsible for PKB's problems".

"Since the party's secretary-general Lukman Edy was dismissed and replaced by Yenny, many party programs have not been able to be implemented," he said.

He also blamed Yenny for the party's failure in several regional elections, including in Bojonegoro and Pamekasan regencies, both in East Java, which are PKB's strongholds.

It will be a difficult path to reconciliation as the clerics sent by Muhaimin to meet Gus Dur were rejected on Saturday afternoon. Moreover, Ikhsan Abdullah of Gus Dur's camp said they might sue over Muhaimin's extraordinary meeting because it used the party symbols, which belong to Gus Dur.

"There was jurisprudence from the conflict between Gus Dur and Matori in 2004. At that time the South Jakarta District Court ruled that all PKB's attributes belonged to Gus Dur," Ikhsan said.

Muhaimin's camp plans to elect the party's new chairman and new patron late Saturday. (alf)

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.