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PAN seeks cohesion
Following the bitterly contested race for the National Mandate Party (PAN) leadership, the newly inducted chairman of the partyâs honorary council, Amien Rais, who is also the partyâs cofounder, said there would be no purge of supporters of losing candidate Hatta Rajasa
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ollowing the bitterly contested race for the National Mandate Party (PAN) leadership, the newly inducted chairman of the party's honorary council, Amien Rais, who is also the party's cofounder, said there would be no purge of supporters of losing candidate Hatta Rajasa.
Amien said that in fact, there would be efforts made by the party's new chairman, Zulkifli Hasan, to include Hatta supporters in the party's new lineup.
'We will make sure that some colleagues who worked for Hatta Rajasa will also join the [new lineup],' Amien said on Monday night after the vote for the party's new leadership concluded.
Amien, who is related by marriage to Zulkifli, also said there would be no sanction of PAN regional branch leaders who voted for Hatta.
'We will not use the word 'dismissal', people can be taught a lesson by being reminded [of their mistakes],' Amien said.
Zulkifli, the current People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker and former forestry minister, beat incumbent Hatta Rajasa in a close race by securing 292 votes, six votes more than Hatta, in a national congress held
Monday night.
In the lead-up to Monday night's vote, Amien personally attacked Hatta by calling him 'a liar', claiming that the former coordinating economic minister once told a party forum he would attend a meeting with the Red-and-White Coalition, but in fact met with President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo.
Zulkifli's election was accompanied by the election of senior politician Soetrisno Bachir as leader of the high assembly, taking over the position held by cofounder Amien Rais, who has been appointed chairman of the party's honorary council, a new body set up on Monday.
The election of Zulkifli also brought PAN ' which Amien founded in the 1990s after the dissolution of the New Order regime ' back under Amien's control.
Many expected Zulkifli's election to give rise to a rift within the party, with Hatta's supporters shown the door by the new leadership.
'The party is obviously divided. Everything is divided into two competing groups, which is a lot like the [ruling] Great Indonesia Coalition and the [opposition] Red-and-White Coalition. We may have clashed again had we not made a decision quickly,' said Tjatur Sapto Edy, deputy chairman of the congress' steering committee.
Tjatur, who is a supporter of Hatta, and current deputy chairman of the party, Drajad Wibowo, both announced their resignations following Hatta's loss in the race.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said that Zulkifli could retain his position as MPR speaker.
Chairman of the PDI-P faction at the House of Representatives, Ahmad Basarah, said Zulkifli could in fact benefit from his position as party chairman.
'I hope Pak Zulkifli can strengthen his position as MPR speaker while serving as PAN chairman. He can build synergy, in fact,' Basarah told reporters.
Zulkifli made a similar remark following his victory in the election.
'The MPR and party chairman can go hand in hand,' he said.
