Nurcholish Madjid, Dita Sari and the 2004 elections<\/p>\n
Max Lane, Visiting Fellow, Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation
\nStudies (CAPSTRANS), University of Wollongong, New South Wales,
\nAustralia<\/p>\n
The 2004 election campaign has started. There are two kinds of
\nissues that people seem to be looking at. The first relate to the
\nso-called major parties, those with substantial numbers in the
\nHouse of Representatives. These are the Indonesian Democratic
\nParty of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Golkar Party, the United
\nDevelopment Party (PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB).
\nBecause the chairman of the tiny National Mandate Party (PAN),
\nAmien Rais, is also the chairman of the People's Consultative
\nAssembly, sometimes PAN is also considered a major party.<\/p>\n
The second group of issues are those that relate to
\ninitiatives that appeal to the broad anti-elite sentiment in
\nsociety. The most reported such initiative is that of Nurcholish
\nMadjid who has been \"campaigning\" to be nominated as a
\npresidential candidate. Nurcholish has no large political
\norganization and no significant history as a politician.<\/p>\n
It is precisely these \"qualifications\" that have made it
\npossible for him to be considered, by some at least, a serious
\ncandidate. Nurcholish, who is also warmly referred to as Cak Nur
\n(elder brother Nur) in the press, is more well-known as an
\nintellectual and academic. He is seen as a \"clean\" figure outside
\nthe political elite.<\/p>\n
Being seen as outside the political elite is what constitutes
\nhis basic appeal in a period when all polls and opinion on the
\nstreet are vehemently hostile to this elite. The problem for
\nNurcholish is that he stands only very partially outside the
\nelite, if it all.<\/p>\n
It was Nurcholish who offered to head up a Reform Committee to
\nbe established by the former dictator Soeharto in the last weeks
\nof the dictatorship in 1998. This was offered as a means to
\nfacilitate a smoother transition to some new system, with
\nSoeharto still presiding. This proposal was rejected by the
\nstudent and mass movements and Soeharto was forced to resign.<\/p>\n
More recently, Nurcholish's ties to the political elite have
\nbeen manifested in his announcement that he would seek the
\nnomination as presidential candidate from the most elitist of all
\nparties, Golkar. Golkar was founded and controlled by Soeharto
\nfor most of his dictatorship. It was the only party from which
\nSoeharto drew Cabinet ministers. The New Order dictatorship was
\nessentially a Soeharto-Golkar dictatorship. Nurcholish had openly
\nannounced his plan to seek Golkar's nomination, although he
\ncanceled the plan on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
Interestingly, former president Abdurrahman Wahid seems to be
\nkeeping another option open. Last week he also attended a
\ncongress organized by the Banteng National Awakening Party
\n(PNBK), led by Eros Jarot. He was given a warm welcome at the
\ncongress, attended by thousands of members. Jarot invited him up
\nonto the stage where Nurcholish said he would be happy to be
\nadopted \"in some way or another\" by the PNBK.<\/p>\n
Jarot flattered him with the comment that surely Cak Nur would
\nnot lower himself to compete with a convicted criminal --
\nreferring to Golkar chairman, Akbar Tandjung, who has been
\nconvicted of corruption by a Jakarta court, and now is in the
\nprocess of appealing the conviction to the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n
Nurcholish's campaign contrasts with that recently initiated
\nby labor leader Dita Sari. Last weekend, Dita chaired a meeting
\nof about 300 representatives of over 50 organizations who formed
\na new political party: The Party of United People's Opposition
\n(Popor).<\/p>\n
Popor's campaign only shares one similarity with that of
\nNurcholish's: It also seeks to respond to the desire for a
\npolitical leadership based outside of and representing non-elite
\nsectors of society.<\/p>\n
Beyond this, the two campaigns are very different.
\nNurcholish's concentrates on the single position of the
\npresidency. The Popor campaign concentrates on social
\nempowerment.<\/p>\n
Another difference is, of course, in the arena of policy. What
\nare Nurcholish's policies for dealing with the economic, social
\nand cultural crisis in the country? Do we presume that they are
\nthe same as those of Golkar, from whom he is seeking support?<\/p>\n
Golkar's basic policies are the same as that of the PDI
\nPerjuangan: Accept recipe of the IMF; continue the military
\noperation in Aceh; go slow -- super-slow -- on the trials of
\ncorruptors and human rights violators during the Soeharto era. In
\nthe meantime, among other policies, Popor rejects economic neo-
\nliberalism, calls for an end to the war in Aceh and the speedy
\ntrials of all corruptors and human rights violators.<\/p>\n
At least Dita has shown a more comprehensive program than
\nNurcholish. But what are the chances of Dita and Nurcholish?<\/p>",
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