Fatwa pessimistic about fusion of Muslim parties<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): National Mandate Party (PAN) Deputy Chairman
\nA.M. Fatwa said he was pessimistic about a fusion of Muslim
\nparties and the establishment of a major Muslim party by the 2004
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
\"Ideally, all Muslim parties should merge to form a strong
\nmajor political party. But it is impossible for them to fuse in
\nthe next five years because there are strong psychological,
\nsociological and political hurdles,\" he said here on Monday.<\/p>\n
Fatwa was responding to a statement by United Development
\nParty (PPP) Chairman Hamzah Haz and PAN Chairman Amien Rais who
\nsaid on Friday that they would merge with the Justice Party and
\nthe Crescent Star Party to form a strong Muslim party.<\/p>\n
Hamzah said the four parties would consolidate and strengthen
\nthe existing axis force in the next five years in anticipation of
\nthe general election.<\/p>\n
\"The axis force could be an embryo for such a fusion in the
\nfuture while the existing Muslim parties continue making a
\nconsolidation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Fatwa, also House of Representatives deputy speaker, seemed to
\ndetract from his own party chief by saying that Muslim political
\nfigures should learn from past experience, when Muslim parties
\nfused in 1948 only to disintegrate by the 1955 general election.<\/p>\n
\"During that time, Muslim parties fused and jointly
\nestablished Masyumi. Two years later, the now defunct Indonesian
\nIslamic Syarekat Party (PSII) was formed and the Nadhlatul Ulama
\n(NU) quit the fusion in 1952. And numerous Muslim parties then
\nappeared to contend the elections,\" he recalled.<\/p>\n
According to him, the Muslim people in the country are still
\ndivided into the traditional and modern groups represented by
\nPresident Abdurrahman Wahid and People's Consultative Assembly
\n(MPR) Chairman Amien Rais in the political elite.<\/p>\n
\"The fusion will depend much on these two figures,\" he said.<\/p>\n
In his estimation, a real political fusion was still far away.<\/p>\n
The sudden push for a merger of Muslim parties may have been
\nprompted by President Abdurrahman Wahid who last week said that
\nin the future there would only be two major parties -- his own
\nNational Awakening Party (PKB) and the Indonesian Democratic
\nParty of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).<\/p>\n
Fatwa said that any attempt to fuse these parties would mean
\nthat a joint congress would have to be held as each party had
\ntheir own ideology and statutes.<\/p>\n
It would also be difficult for the Muslim parties to unite as
\nsome have a secular ideology while others a Muslim one, he added.<\/p>\n
Separately, Arbi Sanit, a political observer from the
\nUniversity of Indonesia, concurred and said that Muslim parties
\nshould instead look to strengthen their axis force and form a
\npolitical confederation.<\/p>\n
\"A confederation is more relevant and it will match with the
\ndistrict system planned to be deployed in the next election. The
\nMuslim parties will gain nothing without it,\" he said, referring
\nto the federation of political parties in Malaysia's UMNO.<\/p>\n
Arbi added that Abdurrahman has betrayed the axis force which
\nsupported him in the last presidential election, with his recent
\nstatement on PKB and PDI Perjuangan.<\/p>\n
The confederation will be effective in forming an opposition
\nin facing both PKB and PDI Perjuangan, he said.<\/p>\n
Arbi noted that it was also relevant for Muslim parties to
\nstrengthen their solidarity in line with the president's
\nstatement.<\/p>\n
He added that Muslim solidarity and primordialism have risen
\ndue to the Golkar Party's past failures to channel the people's
\naspirations. (rms)<\/p>",
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