An internal rift within the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) has emerged after House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Fahri Hamzah challenged the move by senior members of his party to force him to step down from his current position.

Fahri, who is a lawmaker from West Nusa Tenggara, reported PKS deputy secretary general Mardani Ali Sera and PKS deputy chairman Al Muzzamil Yusuf to the party'€™s Organizational Disciplinary Upholding Body (BPDO) on Monday for publicly demanding that Fahri step down from his position as deputy House speaker.

According to Fahri, both Muzzammil and Mardani had previously reported Fahri to the BPDO for giving excessive support to Setya Novanto when the latter was investigated by the House'€™s ethics council for alleged misconduct in connection with Setya'€™s controversial meeting with the president director of PT Freeport Indonesia.

"They have caused all the bother, but I am accused [of doing so], therefore, I reported them to the BPDO," said Fahri as reported by tribunnews.com on Tuesday after he was questioned by BPDO members at the party'€™s headquarters in Jakarta.

Fahri'€™s report was conveyed to the party's disciplinary body at the time of the questioning but he said he did not know when his report would be followed up.

Meanwhile, Al Muzammil played down Fahri'€™s report. "It doesn'€™t matter. The one who made the report is my brother," said Muzzammil on Tuesday as reported by kompas.com. He, however, declined to comment further on the issue, saying that he had no knowledge of the content of Fahri'€™s report.

Muzzammil said the news reports about their dispute did not affect their personal relationship as they still got together when they met in the PKS national coordination meeting (Rakornas) and they even posed for a photograph. "I respect him, but I don't know the point of his report. So I cannot comment further," he added.

Meanwhile, former PKS president Tifatul Sembiring advised Fahri not to challenge the party and called on him to follow the process of the internal evaluation. He stressed that the BPDO had the authority to carry out the evaluation of his performance.

"Fahri should follow the process. God willing, he'll be fine. He's still young. Don'€™t challenge [the party]," said Tifatul on the sidelines of a party meeting in Depok, West Java, on Tuesday, adding that Fahri'€™s support for Setya was not the only issue as the questioning related to cumulative issues.

PKS President Sphibul Iman declined to comment on Farhi'€™s case, saying that it was an internal party issue. "All know is that we have an internal mechanism. So let us not publicize [this issue]. When the time comes, you will know [what happened]," he added. (bbn) (+)

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