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n a symbolic gesture, United Development Party (PPP) chairman Suryadharma Ali apologized for causing friction within the Islam-based party on the sidelines of the party'€™s national caucus in Bogor, West Java, on Thursday.

The two-day meeting, which was attended by party representatives from across the archipelago, also concluded with the decision to expedite the national congress, a forum with the power to replace Suryadharma.

'€œThe PPP national executive board is mandated to organize the congress, one month after the 2014 presidential election at the latest,'€ PPP deputy chairman Lukman Hakim read out the caucus'€™ decisions.

Suryadharma was supposed to end his tenure during a national congress in 2015. It was believed that the rescheduling was the result of distrust within the party of the religious affairs minister.

Suryadharma has continued to his lose grip on the party after he voiced support for the Gerindra Party'€™s presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.

After days of deadlock with his opponents, led by party secretary-general Romahurmuziy, Suryadharma'€™s camp finally succumbed to a fatwa issued by the chairman of the party'€™s sharia assembly, Maimoen Zubeir, which dismissed the political cooperation with Gerindra.

Following the fatwa, Suryadharma offered an apology to all party executives, in which he admitted that proclaiming support for Prabowo had been a mistake, according to Romahurmuziy.

'€œ[Suryadharma] admitted that he had violated the party statute [by endorsing Prabowo],'€ Romahurmuziy told reporters.

Wearing a long-sleeve batik shirt without any party attributes, Suryadharma also made a public apology after the closed-door hearing.

'€œI apologize to all the Indonesian people and the PPP'€™s voters for the recent [party] situation,'€ he said.

Romahurmuziy said party members had forgiven Suryadharma and agreed to hold another meeting next month to decide what candidate the party would endorse in the presidential election.

With political cooperation with Gerindra annulled, '€œthe PPP is now back to square one in terms of political coalition for the presidential election,'€ Romahurmuziy said.

According to him, there were four options for the PPP: '€œFirst, getting aboard the coalition of Islamic parties. Second, approaching the PDI-P [Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle] and support [its presidential candidate] Jokowi [Joko Widodo],'€ he said.

'€œHaving a coalition with Gerindra to support Prabowo is a third option. And the last one is approaching the Golkar Party and [its presidential candidate] Aburizal Bakrie,'€ he added.

'€œWe need to move fast. The PPP has been left behind [...] due to our internal problems,'€ Romahurmuziy said.

He added that the party had also established a 10-member lobby, which would approach parties and politicians and conduct negotiations.

Also on Thursday, Aburizal received members of the Islamic Students Alumni Association (KAHMI) at his office

KAHMI members, including secretary-general Subandriyo, as well as executives Fuad Bawazier, Laode Kamaluddin and Sulastomo, conveyed that they supported three KAHMI members '€” namely former vice president Jusuf Kalla, former House of Representatives speaker Akbar Tandjung and former Constitutional Court chief justice Mahfud MD '€” as potential vice presidential candidates.

When asked who among the three could be his running mate, Aburizal said Mahfud, '€œbecause Kalla and Akbar are Golkar members'€. Mahfud is a former National Awakening Party (PKB) lawmaker.

KAHMI is an association of alumni of the HMI, arguably the country'€™s largest and most influential student organization.