Golkar upbeat hard work will pay off on election day<\/p>\n
By Dwi Atmanta<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Golkar is confident of another landslide victory
\nin the May 29 general election, given the amount of work it has
\nput into consolidating grassroots support these past three years.<\/p>\n
Under chairman Harmoko, Golkar has recruited an army of 12
\nmillions cadres in villages and kampongs across the country.
\nTheir job is to amass votes in their respective neighborhoods.<\/p>\n
Come the election campaign -- slated for April 27 to May 23 --
\nthese cadres will be making door-to-door visits to canvass
\nsupport for Golkar.<\/p>\n
An army of Golkar functionaries in the meantime will be
\ncampaigning among strategic groups -- such as farmers,
\nbusinesspeople, youths, intellectuals and mass media workers.<\/p>\n
Cadres and sympathizers will have the chance to meet top
\nGolkar leaders at the mass gatherings, which will not be rallies
\nhowever because they are forbidden.<\/p>\n
These gatherings will be given massive media exposure to
\nenhance Golkar's image and curry public favor.<\/p>\n
Information on the preparations for the election has been
\nflowing ceaselessly from rural villages to Golkar headquarters in
\nSlipi, West Jakarta, where a blend of government officials,
\nbusiness heavyweights, intellectuals and hundreds of employees
\nare gearing up for the months ahead.<\/p>\n
\"We are facing a war we have to win. That goal needs lengthy
\nand consistent preparations, otherwise we might let our rivals
\nland an unexpected blow at the last minute,\" Rully Chairul Azwar,
\nhead of Golkar's election team said.<\/p>\n
The election will pit Golkar against the United Development
\nParty and the Indonesian Democratic Party, with 425 of 500 seats
\nin the House of Representatives on offer. The other 75 seats go
\nto the Armed Forces, whose members do not vote.<\/p>\n
Golkar won 68 percent of 97.8 million votes in 1992, giving it
\na fifth consecutive landslide majority in the elections held
\nunder President Soeharto.<\/p>\n
This year the organization is gunning for 70.02 percent of the
\n124.7 million people eligible to vote. An estimated 15 million
\npeople will be going to the polls for the first time.<\/p>\n
The target means Golkar has to retain its past support and
\nfind 17 million new backers.<\/p>\n
Java is receiving special treatment as Golkar is fielding
\nhigh-profile figures among its legislative candidates on the
\nisland. President Soeharto's children, Bambang Trihatmodjo and
\nSiti Hardiyanti Rukmana are representing Jakarta and Central Java
\nrespectively, while the party's chairman Harmoko and secretary-
\ngeneral Arie Mardjono will fight for West Java and East Java
\nrespectively.<\/p>\n
Priority<\/p>\n
Rully says Golkar considers the consolidation of neighborhood
\ncommunities its top priority in the election.<\/p>\n
Each coordinating cadre is responsible for monitoring Golkar
\nand non-Golkar sympathizers, an activity which has raised
\nprotests from other political groups who have branded it a
\npolitical census.<\/p>\n
\"Our cadres are just making a list, and other political groups
\nare allowed to do the same. They are only breaking the law if
\nthey intimidate their neighbors into voting for Golkar,\" Rully
\nsays.<\/p>\n
Indonesia adopts the floating mass system which bars all
\npolitical groups from campaigning below the regency level.<\/p>\n
Coordinating cadres duty is called dasa karya (the 10
\nmission), which obliges him or her to recruit nine other voters.
\nThey can be immediate family members, other relatives or
\nneighbors.<\/p>\n
\"Canvassing can take place in bed, the kitchen or at the
\nwell,\" Rully said, referring to methods of recruiting voters from
\namong one's own family and neighborhood.<\/p>\n
Rully says that the target of garnering 70.02 percent of the
\ntotal votes was not determined from the top but arrived at after
\nstudying reports and pledges from cadres, he said.<\/p>\n
\"Psychologically, those cadres will prove whether their
\nreports were reliable or not on election day,\" says Rully, a
\nHouse member who tops the legislative candidates list in
\nBengkulu.<\/p>\n
Golkar's support in any village always serves as an indicator
\nof the success of a village chief. It is accepted that a village
\nchief can expect a second eight-year term if Golkar increases its
\nvote in his or her area.<\/p>\n
Golkar is also counting on the support of the Civil Servants
\nCorps and the Armed Forces, the organization's two founding
\npillars, and their families.<\/p>\n
The former comprises six million employees who work in the
\nbureaucracy and state-owned companies. Its leadership has decided
\nthat all civil servants and their families are expected to
\nchannel their political aspirations through Golkar.<\/p>\n
Such synergy enables Golkar to enjoy the use of bureaucracy
\nfacilities, but Rully denies that Golkar has grown into a non
\nself-reliant political group.<\/p>\n
\"Self-reliance does not suggest Golkar must break its historic
\nrelationships with the civil servants and the Armed Forces. A
\nself-reliant political group is one that manages to implement its
\nprograms.<\/p>\n
He said that Golkar was poised to retain its huge majority to
\nmake sure that it has the dominant say in the country's policy-
\nmaking process.<\/p>\n
\"We have a mission which needs implementing. The bigger our
\nshare of the vote, the smoother the process will be in achieving
\nour goals,\" Rully says.<\/p>\n
The majority landslide is not the reason why the two minor
\nparties have been left out in the cabinet, according to Rully.<\/p>\n
\"The President has the prerogative to choose his assistants.
\nIf he happened to pick his assistants from Golkar, maybe that was
\nbecause he had the full cooperation of Golkar members,\" he says.<\/p>\n
President Soeharto, who took office in 1967, chairs Golkar's
\npowerful board of patrons. Non-Golkar figures were last in the
\ncabinet in the 1972 to 1978 term.<\/p>",
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