PPP set to improve its performance in 1997 election<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) has drawn up
\na five-year program designed to prove its critics wrong amid
\npredictions that it will be relegated to third and last place in
\nthe next general election in 1997.<\/p>\n
The party's program, which includes wide-ranging plans on
\npolitical, economic, educational and cultural reforms, was
\nadopted at the end of the party congress on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
With Ismail Hasan Metareum still at the helm, party insiders
\nsay the Moslem-based PPP is optimistic that its program will be
\nable to attract a wider spectrum of potential voters to jack up
\nits electoral gains.<\/p>\n
The faction-ridden PPP makes consolidation and organizational
\ndevelopment top priority in the program, which lacks in details
\non how it plans to compete with Golkar and the Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party (PDI) in the 1997 election.<\/p>\n
Also high on the agenda are the training of cadres, more
\nefficient use of party funds, research and development, and the
\ndefense of the oppressed.<\/p>\n
PPP has been under increasing pressure from its supporters to
\ndo something to save itself from being relegated to being the
\nsmallest of the three political organizations.<\/p>\n
In the 1992 election, it obtained 17 percent of the votes. By
\ncomparison, Golkar won 68 percent and PDI got almost 15 percent.
\nPPP obtained only one additional chair in the House of
\nRepresentatives (DPR) and PDI 16.<\/p>\n
Alarm bells sounded for the PPP this year amid worsening
\nfactional bickering in the PPP and after PDI elected Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri, the daughter of former president Sukarno, for its
\nhelm spot, and Golkar named information minister Harmoko as its
\nchairman.<\/p>\n
Harmoko, whose cabinet portfolio yields him control of the
\ncountry's mass media, is now toiling to make the government-
\nbacked Golkar an even larger \"single majority\".<\/p>\n
His remarks are widely interpreted to mean that Golkar is bent
\non further widening its lead over the other two parties in 1997.<\/p>\n
The 1997 general election is particularly important given that
\nIndonesia is expected to vote for its third president the
\nfollowing year. President Soeharto, now 73 years old, has
\nindicated on several occasions that he would stand down after
\n1998.<\/p>\n
PDI that has successfully identified itself as \"the party of
\nthe ordinary people\" has been vigorously consolidating.<\/p>\n
Criticism<\/p>\n
Critics link PPP's poor performance in the last election to
\nIsmail Hasan's leadership style which they say overemphasizes
\nharmony with the government and wastes resources to suppress
\ninternal disputes.<\/p>\n
After Thursday's re-election, Ismail Hasan said he would
\nmaintain his leadership style and make the party pro-active,
\nbringing it closer to the ordinary people.<\/p>\n
The program document states that PPP is determined to defend
\nthe poor who have to lose their property to make way for
\ndevelopment projects implemented in an \"inhumane\" manner.<\/p>\n
In preparation for the upcoming election, PPP is set to train
\ncadres, intensify campaigns, introduce the party program to the
\npublic and put internal conflicts to an end.<\/p>\n
The PPP also plans to seek an end to what it calls the
\ngovernment's domination in the future general election process.<\/p>\n
At present, the general election is sponsored by the
\ngovernment and the contesting political organizations believe
\nthey are not fully involved in the whole process.<\/p>\n
The PPP and minority PDI have repeatedly charged that the
\ngovernment favors Golkar. Their demands for an overhaul of the
\nelectoral procedures hit a wall when Golkar and the powerful
\nArmed Forces (ABRI) rejected the proposal.<\/p>\n
The political organizations and ABRI, which does not vote in
\nthe election but reserves 100 DPR seats, review the electoral
\nsystem every five years prior to the presidential election.<\/p>\n
PPP means to try pressing the demand again when the People's
\nConsultative Assembly (MPR) convenes prior to the forthcoming
\npresidential election scheduled for 1998. (pan)<\/p>",
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