Jakarta – The National Awakening Party (PKB) is veering away from internal reconciliation as a group of Muslim clerics who helped found the party demanded on Sunday a new congress to elect legitimate leaders.
Concluding their two-day gathering, the senior ulemas officially rejected the results of PKB congress in Semarang last April, which elected Muhaimin Iskandar and Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid as chairman and chief patron respectively.
PKB legislator Muhammad A.S. Hikam said the clerics assigned Alwi Shihab, who was dismissed as PKB chief last year, to coordinate efforts to settle the ongoing dispute within the party. "The upcoming congress will also mean a reconciliation," Hikam said.
The meeting also asked all party executives in regional chapters and affiliated organizations to support the policy and take disciplinary action against dissenting members.
One of the clerics, Idris Marzuki, said people had been confused by the dispute, which has split the party into a camp under Alwi and another led by Muhaimin. The two sides are fighting in court over their rights to lead the party.
PKB dismissed Alwi and Siafullah Yusuf as PKB leader and secretary general respectively after they joined the Cabinet of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. The party bans its executives from holding government posts to avoid conflicts of interest.
The clerics who attended the meeting, he said, do not belong to any of the camp, but to Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization. "We are the NU camp of PKB," Idris said.
Idris urged all PKB supporters to stick together no matter what the court rules, and asked NU clerics and party executives to disseminate the results of the ulema's meeting to the party's grassroots constituents.
Backed by a group of influential ulemas who cofounded the party in 1999, Alwi challenged the legitimacy of the Semarang congress for failing to involve him and Saifullah.
The two ministers have sued the party's central board over the dismissal, which they said violated the party's statutes.
Alwi said on Sunday that the clerics were not on his side, but "the truth and people who are mandated to defend the truth".
"Let's hold this mandate. This has to be the last time the ulemas interfere, as they have more important jobs of guiding students and followers," Alwi said.
While the ulema's meeting was underway, two unidentified men pelted the East Java secretariat of PKB-linked youth group Garda Bangsa (Nation's Guardian) with stones, shattering the building's windows.
Garda Bangsa's East Java executive Ridwan M. Nur said the group's members were busy preparing administration papers to show their support for the PKB congress last April, when the incident took place.
"Perhaps it's an act of terror. But we're not afraid at all. We stick to our support for the congress in Semarang," he said, quoted by Antara. Local police are investigating the attack.