Page 237 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE
IN INDONESIA

incident happened – also in Jakarta. This incident was an attack on the
PDI office on Jalan Diponegoro and known as the Gray Saturday. The
incident on 27 July 1996 was also known as the Kudatuli Incident (an
acronym for the July 27 Riots).

The incident began with Megawati Soekarnoputri’s victory in the Ex-
traordinary Congress of the Indonesian Democratic Party (KLB PDI)
in Surabaya in 1993. Megawati’s victory was a threat to the New Or-
der regime. This happened because of a conflict within the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI), between the support group for Soerjadi (the
General Chairperson of the 1996 Medan Congress) and the Megawati
support group (General Chairperson of the Ja-
karta National Conference 1993). It reached its
peak after the IV PDI congress in Medan on 20
June 1996.

The New Order Meanwhile, the Third PDI Congress, which was
Government’s plot to held in Pondok Gede, Jakarta, on 15 April 1986,

overthrow Megawati and was opened by President Soeharto, failed to
elect a general chairperson at its last session on
Soekarnoputri 18 April 1986. Participants in the congress handed

was opposed by its over their mandate to the Government to draft a
new Central Board. The government established
supporters by holding a new Central Board for the period of 1986-1991,

an open hearing at led by Soerjadi (General Chairman) and Nicolaus
Daryanto (Secretary General).
the PDI Central Board

Office. This choice was not accepted by all PDI mem-
bers and sympathizers, so a National Conference
was held in Jakarta in 1993 where Megawati won.
Since then, there had been divisions within the
PDI, and efforts to end the dualism of its leader-
ship had been unsuccessful.

When the PDI Congress was going to be held in Medan, Megawati’s
party then formed the Team of Defenders of the Indonesian Democracy
(TPDI) led by Amertiwi Saleh, R.O. Tambunan, and Abdul Hakim Garuda
Nusantara, to demand the Government to cancel the PDI Congress in
Medan. However, the Congress still went on. Soeharto and his military
aides engineered the PDI congress in Medan and reinstated Soerjadi as
General Chairman of the PDI.

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