PKB sets out a clear vision for the future<\/p>\n
The National Awakening Party (PKB) is one of four new parties
\nclaiming to represent the interests of the Nahdlatul Ulama,
\nIndonesia's largest Muslim organization. Party leaders talked to
\nThe Jakarta Post recently about its strategy for next month's
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The National Awakening Party (PKB), while
\nclaiming to be the party representing the millions of Nahdlatul
\nUlama (NU) followers, has lofty proposals for the country that
\ntranscend primordial lines: national reconciliation and a new
\nleadership.<\/p>\n
Considered among the more serious contenders of the 48
\npolitical parties in the June 7 election, PKB is almost certain
\nto push for the nomination of Abdurrahman Wahid, the chairman of
\nNU, which boasts more than 30 million members and supporters.<\/p>\n
Abdurrahman, or Gus Dur to aficionados, returned this week
\nfrom the United States after an eye surgery. He had earlier said
\nthat if his vision improved, he would run for the presidency.<\/p>\n
With the election campaign period less than two weeks away,
\nPKB is already working on the assumption that Gus Dur will be
\nprepared to stake his claim to the country's highest office.<\/p>\n
\"Gus Dur sees that Indonesia is in a very critical condition.
\nHe is making himself available to lead the country and restore
\norder and confidence,\" said Muamir Mu'in Syam, coordinator of
\nPKB's department for organization, members and cadres.<\/p>\n
\"This national crisis is really about a leadership crisis. We
\nchose the wrong leader, one that has no morals. For too long,
\nthis country has lived under false pretenses,\" said Abdul Wachid,
\ncoordinator of international relations in the party.<\/p>\n
\"If the country elects a good leader, most of the rest of the
\nproblem will take care of itself,\" Wachid added.<\/p>\n
When asked about Gus Dur's state of health, Muamir said: \"His
\nvision may be impaired, but his mind is sharper than ours.\"<\/p>\n
The party is keeping its options open about forging a
\ncoalition after the election, a likely scenario since no single
\nparty is expected to win enough votes to form a government on its
\nown.<\/p>\n
But Wachid said PKB would not form a coalition with \"status
\nquo\" forces, a term used to describe the ruling Golkar and other
\nparties with close ties to the past Soeharto regime.<\/p>\n
The criteria for a coalition partner should be that the other
\nparty supports reforms. Among candidates for coalition partners
\nare the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan),
\nand even the National Mandate Party (PAN), in spite of
\npersonality clashes between its leader Amien Rais and Gus Dur,
\nWachid said.<\/p>\n
\"Personally, I would go for a coalition with the Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party of Struggle,\" he said, adding, however, that
\ncoalition plans would only be formally discussed after the
\nelection results are known.<\/p>\n
Muamir said that first and foremost in PKB's agenda, if given
\nthe chance to form a government, is to forge national
\nreconciliation.<\/p>\n
\"We want to see all components in society participate in
\ngovernment. People in Aceh, Irian Jaya and East Timor will be
\ninvolved and given the chance to say what they want,\" he said.<\/p>\n
As a symbolic gesture of reconciliation, a PKB president could
\nwell name people from other parties into his Cabinet, he said.<\/p>\n
Gus Dur has been campaigning for the establishment of a truth
\nand reconciliation commission, to comprise local and foreign
\nfigures. Among foreigners he has named are Nelson Mandela, Vaclav
\nHavel, Lee Kuan Yew, Oscar Arias Sanchez and Jimmy Carter.<\/p>\n
Founded in July 1998, PKB is the largest of four new parties
\nclaiming to represent NU. The main competition for NU voters,
\nhowever, comes from the United Development Party (PPP), which was
\nestablished in 1972 as a fusion of four Muslim parties, including
\nthe NU.<\/p>\n
Bickering in the PPP led to Gus Dur taking the NU faction out
\nof PPP in 1984, removing NU from formal party politics, until the
\nestablishment of PKB last year.<\/p>\n
Although PKB is banking on the support of NU supporters, it is
\nopen to non-NU members, and non-Muslims for that matter.<\/p>\n
\"Our ideology is Pancasila,\" Muamir said. \"We have recruited
\nnon-NU people who are Christians in places like East Nusa
\nTenggara and Irian Jaya.\"<\/p>\n
\"The substance of the party's programs and mission clearly
\nreflects that we're an open party,\" Wachid said. \"This is where
\nGus Dur's statesmanship is important, because he has been able to
\ngain wide acceptance outside NU.\"<\/p>\n
Besides reconciliation, PKB's election platforms include
\npromoting the supremacy of law, providing effective checks and
\nbalances to control the government's power, promoting civil
\nsociety and putting sovereignty back in the hands of the people.<\/p>\n
PKB supports giving sweeping autonomy to the regions, and
\nphasing out the military's sociopolitical role by 2004.<\/p>\n
Wachid admitted that there was a huge gap in perceptions on
\nstate matters and democracy between Gus Dur and the kiyai, the
\ncharismatic leaders of pesantren (Muslim boarding schools) which
\nprovide the bulk of support for NU and PKB.<\/p>\n
\"Gus Dur is further ahead than any of us in his thinking, but
\nwe all think in the same framework. There is no problem here, and
\nthe kiyai will support Gus Dur,\" he said.<\/p>\n
This gap is now being bridged by the young generation in NU,
\nand the kiyai are no longer as restrictive in their thinking as
\nin the past, Wachid said.<\/p>\n
Wachid and Muamir said certain parties have been launching a
\nsystematic hate and slander campaign against PKB and Gus Dur in
\nthe run-up to the elections.<\/p>\n
Last week's violence in Jepara, Central Java, in which four
\nPKB supporters were killed in clashes with PPP supporters, was
\nthe result of such campaigns, they said.<\/p>\n
The slander includes accusations that Gus Dur was a Jewish
\nagent, and that PKB was an acronym for Partai Kiyai Buta (Party
\nfor Blind Kiyai).<\/p>\n
Muamir said the physical and verbal attacks against PKB have
\nangered the party's supporters and many are anxious to exact
\nrevenge. \"It is our job at the executive board to calm them down,
\nand to appeal to them not to be provoked and retaliate,\" he said.<\/p>",
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