Muninggar Sri Saraswati – Yenny Wahid, the daughter of late former President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, has rebuffed peace overtures by National Awakening Party chairman Muhaimin Iskandar and announced plans to establish her own political party.

Imron Rosyadi Hamid, a spokesman for Yenny's rival camp within the party, known as the PKB, said they had decided to establish a new party known as PKB Kalibata rather than join Muhaimin.

"As long as Muhaimin's camp rules the PKB, Gus Dur supporters are not interested in joining. We prefer to set up a new vehicle," he said.

Muhaiman had been engaged in a long dispute with Gus Dur, who founded the party, that ended up with the latter losing his post with the party in 2008. Gus Dur was Muhaiman's uncle.

Yenny has said she is confident PKB Kalibata would attract more supporters than the mainstream party, just as the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) did when Megawati Sukarnoputri broke away from the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) during the New Order era.

A split could prove perilous for the Islam-based PKB, which received just 4.9 percent of the vote in last year's legislative elections, a decline of more than 50 percent from the 10.6 percent it received in 2004 when Gus Dur was at the helm.

Also on Sunday, Muhaimin said he expected to seek the support of senior clerics with the Nahdlatul Ulama, the nation's largest Islamic organization and the PKB's base, to help in attempts to establish a dialogue with Yenny.

"We welcome those who want to reconcile. For those who don't want to, that's fine. We are still open. Let things happen naturally," he said.

Muhaimin claimed his camp had been discussing the possibility of reconciliation with Gus Dur's faction since July. Gus Dur passed away on Dec. 30. "We will integrate those [who agree to reconciliation] within the PKB structure," he said.

Lily Wahid, a former deputy with the PKB advisory council, said a number of senior NU clerics would hold a meeting to discuss the reconciliation of the camps of Muhaimin, Yenny and Choirul Anam, a former PKB member who formed the splinter party Ulema National Awakening Party (PKNU) in 2006.

"The senior clerics are of the opinion that the rift is not favorable for the NU," she said. Senior clerics Mustofa Bisri and Muchid Muzadi, who also helped establish the PKB, have supported efforts to unify the party.