Hans David Tampubolon, Jakarta – The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has finalized the invitation list for its upcoming congress in Bali, and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his Cabinet ministers are not on it.
"We have not invited anyone from the government because we do not want our congress to be interfered with," PDI-P congress committee chairman Tjahjo Kumolo said during a media gathering at the Sultan Hotel in Jakarta on Monday.
"We also do not want to disturb the President, because he has so many matters of greater importance to attend to," he added.
Yudhoyono's rocky relationship with PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri has been a hot topic since Yudhoyono seized the presidential office from Megawati six years ago. Now the two political heavyweights rarely appear in public together.
Backing up its claims of objectivity, the PDI-P has included on its list of invitees House of Representatives Speaker Marzuki Alie, who is currently running for chairmanship of Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, according to Tjahjo.
"The PDI-P will also invite the speaker's deputies, the top leaders of the People's Consultative Assembly and the Regional Representatives Council," he said.
High-profile invitees include former vice presidents Hamzah Haz and Jusuf Kalla, who is a Golkar Party senior politician and founder of the National Democrat mass organization. Also invited are Surya Paloh and Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.
Tjahjo said the congress would also request the attendance of newly elected Nahdlatul Ulama chairman Said Agil Siradj, as well as religious leaders representing all five officially recognized beliefs under the Constitution, and that each would be invited to lead a prayer at the gathering.
The focus of the congress, which will run from April 6 to 9, will be the appointment of a new party chairman, to spearhead the party until 2015.
However, several PDI-P executives have said the election will be a non-event, pointing to Megawati's recent sweep of votes at the party's regional branches as evidence of her inevitable victory.
"Based on regional conference results across 471 branches, more than 98 percent have pledged their support for ibu Mega," PDI-P secretary-general Pramono Anung told reporters at the House on Monday. Pramono said the party's main aim was to increase its ability to monitor and control the government.
Meanwhile, speculation abounds that the party is mulling a shift in its political stance that could position it as an ally of the Democratic Party's government. Rumors began to manifest after Megawati's husband, Taufik Kiemas, who is also chief patron of the PDI-P, said that the time for opposing the government had passed and that his party would do well to become an ideological ally of the Democratic Party. Taufik once refered to Yudhoyono as "a childish general".