The United Development Party on Thursday quashed a controversial former intelligence official’s claim to the chairmanship of the party’s Papua branch, but insisted he would not be punished for the stunt.
Suryadharma Ali, religious affairs minister and chairman of the party known as the PPP, said Bachtiar Gaffar had been recognized as the official head of its Papua branch after receiving the backing of 13 district branches, against nine for rival Muchdi Purwoprandjono.
“We support the candidate supported by the majority of our party’s district leaders,” Suryadharma said, stressing the decision was final and must be applied immediately.
Romahurmuzy, a deputy secretary general at the PPP, said that while Muchdi was adamant he had won the post, the party would not seek any punishment for his insubordination.
“Although his statement goes against the decision of the PPP’s central board, we still respect this debate as part of democracy,” he said.
“Any difference of opinion among us doesn’t violate our regulations.”
Muchdi, a former deputy head of the State Intelligence Agency (BIN) who was acquitted of the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, said on Thursday that he had demanded Suryadharma issue a formal decision recognizing him as the head of the PPP in Papua.
“I’m considering filing a legal complaint with the Constitutional Court about this matter if the decision isn’t forthcoming,” he said.
The disagreement stems from Saturday’s meeting by the Papua office to determine its new leader for the 2011-2016 period.
At the meeting, outgoing head Reba Dwiseno Pontoh argued that Muchdi should be allowed to run, but 13 PPP district branch heads staged a walkout in protest, according to Emron Pangkappi, a member of the party’s central board. The remaining nine district branch heads then voted to elect Muchdi as the new provincial branch chief.
However, Somali, one of Muchdi’s supporters in the provincial PPP office, claimed that only nine had walked out while 13 had stayed on to vote for Muchdi.
“It was only nine district leaders who walked out, not what Emron claimed,” he said.He added that he and several supporters had applied to the central board to officially instate Muchdi as the PPP’s Papua chairman. “I hope the request can be approved immediately,” Somali said.
In February, Muchdi announced that he was abandoning the nationalist Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) he co-founded to join the Islamist PPP.
Ever since he made the move, observers have speculated that Muchdi has designs on the PPP chairmanship.
Publicly, PPP leaders have welcomed Muchdi, but insiders close to Suryadarma say he is privately worried about Muchdi’s reported ambitions to lead the party.