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n a compromise to resolve a dispute in the United Development Party (PPP), the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN) granted on Wednesday party chairmanship to senior politician Djan Faridz, the successor appointed by former leader Suryadharma Ali.

The court annulled a decree made by Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly that had validated the chairmanship of Djan'€™s rival, Muhammad Romahurmuziy, the leader of a splinter group that defied Suryadharma'€™s leadership after the presidential election.

'€œ[We] oblige the defendant [Minister Yasonna] to revoke the decree on the recognition of the changes in PPP central executive board membership,'€ reads the verdict statement.

Issued just hours after Yasonna was inaugurated as minister in October, the decree recognized changes to the structure of the party'€™s central board based on a decision made in a national congress (muktamar) in Surabaya that had unanimously appointed Romahurmuziy as chairman.

Romahurmuziy later changed the party'€™s direction to supporting President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo that resulted in the party placing its cadre, Lukman Hakim Saifuddin, as Religious Affairs Minister.

The President later also appointed Suharso Monoarfa, another politician and former minister from Romahurmuziy'€™s faction, as a member of The Presidential Advisory Council (Wantimpres).

The swift change of party allegiance led by Romahurmuziy had drawn ire among senior party members, who were still devoted to Suryadharma and held prominent posts in the government during former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono administration.

Djan then filed the lawsuit to challenge the controversial ministerial decree to the PTUN. Djan, a businessman-turned-politician and former public housing minister during the Yudhoyono administration, was elected PPP chairman during the party'€™s national congress held in November.

Responding to the verdict, Romahurmuziy said on Wednesday that he would file a cassation petition to appeal the case to the Jakarta High State Administrative Court.

The former party secretary-general during Suryadharma'€™s chairmanship said the PTUN'€™s ruling is plagued with irregularities, such as the panel of judges'€™ decision to not consider his faction'€™s legal standing.

Another peculiar thing is the fact that presiding judge Teguh Satya Bhakti was crying while delivering the verdict.

'€œIt shows that he was under pressure from hundreds who were being sent to press the judges,'€ Romahurmuziy said.

PPP politician Fernita Darwis, one of Djan'€™s deputies, said that there was no such intervention. She claimed that the judge was moved to tears because he was sad that Muslims were torn apart due to the conflicts in the PPP.

'€œ[Romahurmuziy] cannot represent the PPP anymore as a result of the legal standing. Let'€™s get back together as one and close the rift,'€ she said.

Meanwhile, on the same day, Golkar'€™s internal dispute panel held a hearing at the party'€™s headquarters in Slipi, West Jakarta, where the two quarreling camps, for the first time, attended.

The Wednesday hearing saw testimonies by 13 witnesses representing various party branches presented by Aburizal'€™s camp, who all highlighted that '€œthey had freely voted for Aburizal during a national congress in September last year'€ although one of the witnesses, M. Ali Sangadji, who headed Golkar'€™s branch office in Morotai, admitted that the rival camp, led by Agung Laksono, paid him to attend a '€œshadow'€ congress in Ancol a week later.

'€œWhatever the decision will be, we have promised that whoever will lose the dispute will not set up a new [political] party,'€ Idrus Marham, secretary-general of Aburizal-led Golkar, told the press on the sidelines of the hearing.