Political parties a conflict resolution training ground?<\/p>\n
Harry Bhaskara, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Democracy in the country has reached the awkward stage of
\nadolescence. Power transfers at the highest level were successful
\nlast October, but not so at political party level this year. For
\nfree elections to be held, political parties must be willing and
\nable, but a spate of party congresses in recent weeks have shown
\nthat democracy is in short supply.<\/p>\n
Political parties have been saddled with internal disputes. A
\nrival leadership group had threatened to set up a new party to
\nchallenge Megawati Soekarnoputri before she was reelected in
\nMarch at the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P)
\ncongress in Bali.<\/p>\n
A splinter group of National Awakening Party (PKB) leaders is
\nseeking legal means to declare the recent PKB congress invalid.
\nThey are also planning to set up a rival party.<\/p>\n
The reelection of Megawati is intriguing since she failed to
\nbring the party to victory in the 2004 election. In fact, the
\ncongress in Bali became a rubber stamp for Megawati's
\nreelection.<\/p>\n
Megawati, undoubtedly is indebted to her late father, Sukarno
\n-- the charismatic founding father of the nation -- for her
\nreelection. A good many of her supporters were her father's
\nadmirers. The general public, however, rejected her leadership by
\nvoting last year for Army Gen.(ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.<\/p>\n
Following Megawati's reelection, Abdurrahman \"Gus Dur\" Wahid
\nwas reelected as chief patron of the National Awakening Party
\n(PKB) in its congress in mid-April in Semarang.<\/p>\n
The maverick Gus Dur is the grandson of the founder of
\nNahdlatul Ulama, the world's largest Muslim organization, which
\nhe led for 15 years. As a PKB founder, Gus Dur retains a central
\nposition in the party, which was founded in 1999. He was also
\ninstrumental in his nephew, Muhaimin Iskandar -- who is also
\nHouse of Representatives deputy speaker -- securing the party's
\ntop post. The election was marred by a fight that left two people
\ninjured.<\/p>\n
Most political parties are imperfect in the preparation of
\ntheir leaders, from the bottom up.<\/p>\n
To some extent, this is also true of the National Mandate
\nParty (PAN), which convened its congress in Semarang prior to the
\nPKB's. Here, the charismatic leader is Amien Rais, who catapulted
\nlittle-known businessman Soetrisno Bachir into the position of
\nparty chief.<\/p>\n
A party leader who owes his leadership to a charismatic leader
\nwill likely be guided by the latter.<\/p>\n
For the 32 years of Soeharto's rule, political party leaders
\nwere largely determined by the strong man. Now that Soeharto is
\nno longer in power, leaders with connections, or charisma, have
\ntaken his place. Conspicuously absent is a leader who comes from
\nthe bottom. The public, ever so hopeful of a healthy democracy
\nafter Soeharto's fall in 1998, must cling to that hope, for the
\ntime being.<\/p>\n
Leadership is but one of a string of handicaps in the recent
\nparty congresses. A large dash of nepotism was thrown in as well.
\nMegawati installed her younger brother, Guruh, as a board member
\nand Gus Dur fought for his nephew, Muhaimin, to be chosen as
\nparty leader and his daughter, Zanuba \"Yenny\" Arifah Chafsoh
\nRahman, to sit on the party's executive board.<\/p>\n
In the PDI-P congress in Bali, sessions deliberating
\nMegawati's performance were cut short. In the case of PAN,
\nleadership contender Hatta Radjasa, who is also minister of
\ntransportation, withdrew from the race following talks with
\nAmien. Although there was no brawls in this congress, things
\ncould have been done in a more transparent way.<\/p>\n
Money politics and rewards for favors have been the substance
\nof strong rumors from each congress. Difficult as they are to
\nprove, public interests are not as high up on the agenda as one
\nwould hope.<\/p>\n
The choice of a businessperson as party leader could also be
\nperceived as a handicap. Soetrisno, like Jusuf Kalla -- the vice
\npresident who was elected as Golkar leader in December 2004 -- is
\na businessmen. The fact that businesspeople are selected as the
\nheads of political parties underlines the glaringly obvious:
\nMoney is a prerequisite for power.<\/p>\n
Political parties make excellent training ground for the
\nresolution of differences. Thus, a rift within a political party
\nis a sure sign that members' training is not going so well. If
\nthis is so, how do politicians imagine they can solve problems at
\nnational level?<\/p>\n
While reports on congresses unveil a certain level of
\nimmaturity on the part of our politicians, they are not entirely
\nto blame. They are nothing but the victims of past political
\npractices, when political parties were the mere tools of those in
\npower.<\/p>\n
Hard work awaits the members -- particularly the reformists --
\nof those parties, to navigate the difficult terrain toward a
\ndurable democracy.<\/p>\n
Otherwise, their erstwhile narrow political outlooks will
\ntranslate into a faltering political system at a national level.<\/p>\n
The author is a staff writer with The Jakarta Post.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/political-parties-a-conflict-resolution-training-ground-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }