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Romahurmuziy elected PPP chief in Surabaya
Young blood: Romahurmuziy (center), the newly elected chief of the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP), accepts congratulations from well-wishers at the partyâs national congress in Surabaya, East Java, on Thursday
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span class="inline inline-center">Young blood: Romahurmuziy (center), the newly elected chief of the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP), accepts congratulations from well-wishers at the party's national congress in Surabaya, East Java, on Thursday. He succeeded Suryadharma Ali, who has been named a graft suspect. Antara/M. Risyal Hidayat
Rebuffing a request for reconciliation, a faction of the United Development Party (PPP) appointed on Thursday secretary-general Muhammad Romahurmuziy as party chairman at a muktamar (national congress) in Surabaya, East Java.
The congress, which successfully met quorum, unanimously appointed Romahurmuziy to replace
Suryadharma Ali, who is currently facing a graft charge from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
The party's central board has been split into two factions since Suryadharma's decision to support losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto ahead of the July presidential election.
Suharso Monoarfa, a deputy chairman during Suryadharma's chairmanship and currently a supporter of the Romahurmuziy faction, claimed that the appointment of Romahurmuziy as chairman had accommodated aspirations from all the party's regional boards.
'The chosen chairman has been vested with the authority to jointly choose members of the central executive board as well as the head and deputy heads of the party's court,' he said while reading the decision issued by the congress at the Empire Palace Hotel in Surabaya, East Java.
Emron Pangkapi, another Romahurmuziy supporter, said that the party was now ready to leave Prabowo's Red-and-White Coalition to join president-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's Great Indonesia Coalition.
With the support of the PPP, Jokowi's coalition may control 46 percent of seats at the House of Representatives.
Tensions between the two factions flared when the Suryadharma faction failed to secure leadership positions for the party at the House and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).
Jokowi and his coalition had offered long-term partnership with the possibility of ministerial appointments, but on the condition that the party declared its allegiance to the Great Indonesia Coalition before the president-elect's inauguration and ahead of his Cabinet announcement.
As Suryadharma had insisted that holding a national congress to reassess the party's direction and leadership could only happen after Jokowi's inauguration, the Romahurmuziy faction opened the Surabaya congress on Wednesday, ignoring a verdict from the party's mahkamah (internal council) to hold an islah (reconciliation) and a joint congress with Suryadharma's faction.
Suryadharma has planned to hold a separate muktamar in Jakarta on Oct. 23.
The mahkamah and the party's sharia board have declared both congresses invalid and aired plans to conduct their own congress as a compromise.
PPP expert board secretary-general Ahmad Yani claimed that the sharia board and the mahkamah had rejected Romahurmuziy's appointment.
He said the Romahurmuziy faction had ignored a letter for an islah meeting in Jakarta on Thursday that was attended by representatives of the boards, the mahkamah and Suryadharma's faction.
'[The Romahurmuziy faction] received the letter [on Wednesday night], and was ordered to stop the [Surabaya] muktamar, but they decided to proceed with it,' he told The Jakarta Post.
Yani claimed that sharia board head Maimoen Zubair also attended the Thursday meeting in Jakarta with Suryadharma.
Despite having visited Jokowi's residence in Menteng, Jakarta, on Wednesday, Yani said Maimoen, also known as Mbah Moen, still considered the Surabaya congress and all of its decisions null and void.
The visit paid to Jokowi by the senior PPP leader, who had just returned from umroh (minor pilgrimage), sparked rumors that he had sided with the Romahurmuziy faction.
However, Yani said that Maimoen maintained that both factions needed to reconcile in the Jakarta
meeting.
When asked about the legitimacy of his appointment, Romahurmuziy said that he believed he was the rightful chairman, as the transfer of party leadership had been carried out in accordance with party regulations. He pointed to the presence of mahkamah member Machfudhoh Aly Ubaid, as well as the head of the party's expert board, Barlianta Harahap, as evidence.
Romahurmuziy said that he believed he had exhausted all potential ways of reconciling with Suryadharma.
'Islah means make peace and we have done that,' he said.
PPP sharia board deputy head Fahrurrozzi Ishaq said he had not been invited to the Jakarta meeting and believed that the sharia board had not reached a formal decision regarding the legitimacy of Romahurmuziy's assumption of the chairmanship.
'It was difficult to dismiss the muktamar in Surabaya as illegitimate since it was attended by more than two thirds of the party's members as is required by the law on political parties,' he said.
