Crunch time for Golkar chief Akbar Tandjung<\/p>\n
John Mcbeth,
\nThe Straits Times,
\nAsia News Network,
\nSingapore<\/p>\n
Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung has a well-deserved reputation
\nas a canny strategist with an instinct for survival. But even he
\nmay have his work cut out controlling the outcome of this month's
\nparty congress.<\/p>\n
It will be by far the most important Golkar gathering since
\npresident Soeharto's fall from power more than six years ago.<\/p>\n
At stake is not only Akbar's future as party leader but also
\nthe shape of political alignments in the new House of
\nRepresentatives where Golkar controls 128 of the 550 seats and,
\nfor now at least, has taken a position in opposition to new
\nPresident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.<\/p>\n
Only Golkar deputy leader Marwah Daud Ibrahim -- from the
\nparty's minority Sulawesi wing -- has openly declared her
\ncandidacy so far for the party leadership.<\/p>\n
But two outsiders, media baron Surya Paloh, the choice of
\nGolkar-affiliated Vice-President Jusuf Kalla, and former armed
\nforces chief Wiranto, the party's losing presidential candidate,
\nare expected to mount challenges as well when party delegates
\nassemble in Bali for five days from Dec. 15.<\/p>\n
Jusuf was interested in contesting the chairmanship himself,
\nbut was dissuaded from doing so by the president's aides, who
\ntold him that it would be a conflict of interest.<\/p>\n
Little is known about the ambitions of House Speaker Agung
\nLaksono, who has an uneasy relationship with Akbar, and
\ncontroversial Economic Coordinating Minister Aburizal Bakrie,
\nwhose inclusion in the Cabinet was clearly designed to lure
\nGolkar's rank-and-file into the government fold.<\/p>\n
Although Susilo has been engaged in an early test of wills
\nwith the so-called Nationhood Coalition, comprising Golkar, PDI-P
\nand Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid's National Awakening Party
\n(PKB), the coalition is unlikely to prove much of an obstacle to
\nthe President's pushing through his legislative agenda.<\/p>\n
Once government legislation reaches the Parliament's 11
\ncommissions, party discipline always tends to break down.<\/p>\n
The concept of a genuine political opposition remains quite
\nforeign to Indonesia, largely because lawmakers have nothing in
\nthe way of ideology, platforms or policies to steer them away
\nfrom self-interest and what often amounts to state-sanctioned
\nbribery to get laws passed.<\/p>\n
Akbar could very well face searching questions from party
\nmembers over his opposition stance, which his critics complain
\nwas initially aimed at trying to ensure his own survival rather
\nthan furthering party interests.<\/p>\n
It should not be forgotten that Golkar's 128 seats in a
\ngreatly expanded House are only 10 more than what it secured at
\nthe party's lowest point in 1999. Indeed, for many party members
\n-- particularly those in eastern Indonesia -- staying in semi-
\nopposition probably makes increasingly little sense when there is
\na lot more money to be made by lining up behind Susilo.<\/p>\n
Signs of a crack in the party leadership's resolve came only
\nrecently when senior Golkar politician Theo Sambuaga, the
\nchairman of Parliament's defense commission and an Akbar ally up
\nto now, conceded that it was the President's prerogative to
\nchoose a new commander of the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI).<\/p>\n
Up until then, the commission had backed outgoing president
\nMegawati Soekarnoputri's last-minute appointment of Army Chief of
\nStaff General Ryamizard Ryacudu -- a hardliner whose
\nuncompromising stance on many issues appears to be out of step
\nwith Susilo's moves towards a promised new wave of reformation.<\/p>\n
In countries such as Indonesia and Thailand, where the
\nmilitary has traditionally had an important place in the power
\nequation, generals get very upset at political interference in
\nmilitary appointments.<\/p>\n
Akbar was elected as Golkar leader at the party's last
\ncongress in Jakarta in 1998, defeating former defense minister
\nEdi Sudradjat, who later went on to found the Indonesian Justice
\nand Unity Party (PKPI) -- one of the minority groups now
\nsupporting Susilo.<\/p>\n
Akbar, a 58-year-old apparatchik with only a faint blush of
\ncharisma, assumed the leadership at a time when anti-Golkar
\nsentiment was running high over the party's role as Soeharto's
\npolitical machine during his 32-year rule.<\/p>\n
Although Golkar fell badly behind PDI-P in the 1999 elections,
\nAkbar's work in consolidating, if not reforming, the party earned
\nhim a wide following that he still largely enjoys on the central
\nboard and among the 33 provincial branches.<\/p>\n
His Achilles' heel, however, comprises 428 district chapters,
\nwhose control over the balance of power in the party was
\nunderlined last May when Golkar opted for General Wiranto over
\nAkbar as its presidential nominee.<\/p>\n
One of the key issues at the coming congress will be who is
\nallowed to vote for a new party leader. As things stand, only the
\n100-man central board, provincial-level chapter delegates and
\nrepresentatives from 10 different subsidiary organizations may
\ncast ballots.<\/p>\n
Participants say it was the sense of the last congress that
\nthe party's regulations should be changed to allow district
\ndelegates to take part in choosing the 25-man executive board.
\nBut in what Akbar's opponents now see as an act of manipulation,
\nthat proposal was not included in the secretariat's final report
\non proceedings. Marwah Daud Ibrahim, for one, has made it clear
\nthat she will call for the presidential convention process to be
\nincluded in Golkar statutes to ensure the party's commitment
\ntowards democracy.<\/p>\n
Another hotly contested issue will be the rules of eligibility
\nfor party chairman.<\/p>\n
Up to now, candidates have only had to be actively involved
\nfor five years in the affairs of Golkar or its ancillary
\norganizations. But under a new proposal, which reflects Akbar's
\ncontrol over the party machinery and his willingness to use it,
\ncandidates will have had to spend five years as members of the
\ncentral board or provincial committees -- which would rule out
\nboth media baron Paloh and Gen. Wiranto.<\/p>\n
Creating a split at the congress would work in Akbar's favor
\ngiven the support he has had up to now from 60 percent of the
\ncentral board.<\/p>\n
What is not so clear is what more he can offer his supporters
\nto keep them loyal.<\/p>\n
In the end, whether Akbar survives or not, Golkar is unlikely
\nto continue along its current path.<\/p>\n
Short of testing the limits of Indonesia's presidential
\nsystem, it makes no sense to take a confrontational stand against
\na president who has a greater public mandate than any Indonesian
\nleader before him.<\/p>\n
It also makes no sense considering the fact that Susilo has
\nbarely begun his presidency.<\/p>\n
And it makes no sense at all for Golkar itself, at a time when
\nvoters have made it patently clear that they are not happy with
\nthe country's established parties.<\/p>\n
Thanks to a potent combination of democratization and
\ndecentralization, the Indonesian electorate has sent politicians
\na message they would be wise to take heed of.<\/p>",
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