Suryadharma Ali. JP

The sharia board of the United Development Party (PPP) decided on Wednesday that it would conduct a muktamar (national congress), intensifying the rivalry between two party factions.

While declaring the congress held by secretary-general Muhammad Romahurmuziy on Wednesday in Surabaya to be illegal, PPP sharia board chief Maimun Zubair also nullified a congress planned by chairman Suryadharma Ali for Oct. 23 in Jakarta.

'As stipulated by the decision [of the party's sharia board], both congresses are invalid,' he announced in Jakarta on Wednesday, referring to a declaration issued on Oct. 11, ordering the two rival factions to hold an ishlah (reconciliation) and plan the muktamar by consensus.

The declaration also stated that should reconciliation not be achieved within seven days after its issuance, the sharia board would step in to organize the national congress.

Maimun, who is also a prominent Muslim cleric, said that the board would hold the muktamar in order to resolve the rift that has split the party into two factions.

PPP council secretary Ahmad Yani said the congress planned by the board would be held before Oct. 20, when president-elect Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo is scheduled to be inaugurated.

'We are taking the middle road between the [Romahurmuziy-led] congress in Surabaya on Oct. 15 and the [Suryadharma-led] Jakarta congress on Oct. 23,' he said, adding the congress was likely to be held on Oct. 19.

Conflicts between the two factions of the central executive board erupted after Suryadharma decided to throw PPP support behind losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto by joining the latter's Red-and-White Coalition ahead of the presidential election.

Tensions flared again when the Suryadharma faction failed to secure leadership positions for the party at the House of Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

The Surabaya congress opened Wednesday with a strong preference for leaving the Red-and-White Coalition and joining Jokowi's Great Indonesia Coalition, which had offered the party a seat during the MPR leadership nomination.

Jokowi and PPP deputy chairman Emron Pangkapi ' who is part of the Romahurmuziy faction ' have reportedly also discussed the possibility of the PPP receiving ministerial posts in the president-elect's Cabinet.

Suryadharma, who stepped down from his post as religious affairs minister after being declared a suspect in a graft case, said that the Surabaya congress had violated the party's rules of association (AD/ART), claiming that only he as party chairman had the authority to conduct a national congress.

'The secretary-general and the deputy chairman have the right to hold a national congress without [the presence of] the chairman?' he said in Jakarta on Wednesday.

Party rules also stipulate that the national congress could only be held after the new government was sworn in, he said.

Romahurmuziy insisted upon the legitimacy of the Surabaya congress, saying that it was attended by 821 members from the party's 1,153 regional board members.

'Therefore, as stipulated by Article 23 of the party's AD/ART, which requires the presence of more than half the party's regional board members [in order to hold a national congress], this muktamar is legitimate.'

He added that according to party rules, a deputy chairman may preside over the proceedings in the event of a chairman's absence.

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