Muninggar Sri Saraswati – With just over a month to go until the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chooses it next chairperson, a group of party members has filed a complaint against its senior leadership for issuing internal policy that may prevent Guruh Sukarnoputra from running for the post.

The group filed its complaint against Megawati Sukarnoputri, Guruh's sister and the current chairwoman of the party, and Pramono Anung, its secretary general, in the South Jakarta District Court on Friday.

Zulkarnaen, one of the lawyers representing the group, which is calling itself the Advocacy Team to Save the PDI-P, said the new policy prevented subdistrict-level party officials from taking part in the party congress in April.

"The policy is against the party statute, which states that consolidation should involve party management from the lowest level. The policy is systematically designed to bar the presence of party management from subdistrict level," he said.

Zulkarnaen suspected the policy was designed to limit support for Guruh, which mainly comes from PDI-P members at the subdistrict level.

Tjahjo Kumolo, a senior executive at the PDI-P, said the party's central board had no problems addressing the motion filed by its junior members. "It's fine if they want to seek justice through legal proceedings," he said.

Tjahjo said that the PDI-P leadership had issued the policy according to party statutes and after thorough consideration.

Last month, subdistrict-level party officials in Bandung filed a complaint against the same policy in the Bandung District Court. They cited the same reasons as set out by Zulkarnaen.

Guruh, who is also known as an accomplished choreographer, put his hand up last year to run for the PDI-P's top post, although it is widely expected that Megawati will be re-elected chairwoman.

The question of who will take over the leadership from Megawati, however, has been a persistent issue considering she is a party icon and unifying force. Taufik Kiemas, Megawati's husband, has proposed Puan Maharani, their daughter, to eventually replace her mother.

The formation of a deputy chairperson position will also be discussed at April's party congress, a position which is expected to be assumed by Puan to give her more experience before replacing Megawati.