PKB forbids cadres from joining National Democrats

JAKARTA: The National Awakening Party (PKB) has officially prohibited its members from joining mass organization National Democrats, citing fears the group would evolve into a political party.

"We will ask them to make a choice: stay there *at National Democrats*, or stay with the PKB," the chairman of the party's honorary council, Aziz Mansyur, was quoted as saying by news portal tempointeraktif.com.

He added that party members who wanted to be active in mass organizations should enter those affiliated with the party.

The announcement came after a top member of the party's splinter group, Hasan Aminuddin, who heads the "Gus Dur PKB" branch in East Java, had been appointed to head the National Democrats' branch in the province.

The mass organization was founded by Golkar Party politician and media mogul Surya Paloh, who has left the possibility open for turning the group into a party. Golkar has also officially banned its members from following Paloh.

National Democrats executive Ferry Mursyidan Baldan criticized the party's policy, saying the group would not become a party.

"The fact is that we're a mass organization." -JP