Sofjan to gather businessmen to help parties<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A group of top businesspeople have abandoned
\nGolkar and are studying the possibility of financially backing
\nsome of the country's newly emerging political parties.<\/p>\n
Noted businessman Sofjan Wanandi said yesterday he would no
\nlonger help Golkar as he had under former president Soeharto's
\nNew Order regime. Instead, he said he would gather fellow
\nbusinesspeople next month to determine which of the newly
\nestablished political parties they would support.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the Gemala business group said yesterday that
\nat least 20 \"still robust\" businesspeople had agreed to the plan
\nto provide financial support to political parties.<\/p>\n
Among the names that Sofjan mentioned were former chairman of
\nthe country's biggest oil and gas company Medco Energi
\nCorporation Arifin Panigoro, South Sulawesi businessman Jusuf
\nKalla, PT Astra International commissioner Teddy Rahmat, Raja
\nGaruda Mas Group owner Sukanto Tanoto and Jan Darmadi of the Jan
\nDarmadi Corp.<\/p>\n
\"Essentially, they are from companies which are still strong
\nenough to help ... not from bankrupt companies,\" he said on the
\nsidelines of a seminar at the Centre for Strategy and
\nInternational Studies (CSIS).<\/p>\n
He said the Soeharto regime had forced businesspeople to
\ndonate money to social foundations, which were suspected of
\nfunneling funds to Golkar. One such organization was the Dakab
\nFoundation, set up in 1985.<\/p>\n
\"Up to 90 percent of Dakab's money was from businesspeople,\"
\nhe said of the foundation chaired by Soeharto. The foundation has
\ntotal assets worth Rp 836.2 billion (US$65 million).<\/p>\n
Golkar's political opponents and government critics have
\nalleged that foundation funds had been unfairly used to support
\nGolkar's political activities.<\/p>\n
\"Now, the business community must be careful in supporting
\npolitical forces. Only parties with clear pro-people platforms
\ndeserve to be supported,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Sofjan said the planned meeting would determine a strategy on
\nhow the group would go about supporting their chosen political
\nparties.<\/p>\n
The group should make people, not government officials, the
\nmain barometer of their political agenda, he said.<\/p>\n
\"So now if we are asked to help Golkar...we'll have to see
\nfirst if the party has taken the people's interest into account
\nin their main agenda,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Golkar's new chairman, Akbar Tandjung, and Sofjan are both of
\nthe '66 Generation of student leaders who helped topple
\nIndonesia's first president Sukarno and helped Soeharto ascend to
\npower in the 1960s.<\/p>\n
Sofjan also said that if the business community helped
\npolitical parties, it must be done as transparently as possible.<\/p>\n
\"If we support political parties, we want to do it openly so
\nthat the media can report the successes and failures of the
\nscheme,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"They (political parties) must come up with real programs so
\nthat the business community can really help,\" Sofjan added.<\/p>\n
Sofjan is the spokesman for a group of businesspeople called
\nthe Jimbaran Group, whose mission is to fight for certain social
\ncauses. The group, for instance, pledged in 1995 to donate a
\nportion of its profits to help develop small businesses.<\/p>\n
During the course of its existence, the group has offered
\nsupport in the fields of human resources, capital, market access
\nand information.<\/p>\n
Elections<\/p>\n
During the discussion sponsored by CSIS, political scientist
\nRiswandha Imawan of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University suggested
\nthat existing political parties needed to merge.<\/p>\n
\"Sixty political parties are too many to be effective in
\nachieving the ideals of the reform movement ... (They should)
\nmerge into four or five, or else there may not be any elections
\nat all (next year),\" he said.<\/p>\n
Riswandha argued Golkar would win \"with its money\". He
\nspeculated that Golkar could easily buy off votes even without
\ncampaigning.<\/p>\n
A few free packages of rice from Golkar could easily win the
\nparty support since many people were suffering from the prolonged
\ncrisis, he said.<\/p>\n
Riswandha's remarks were countered by political scientist
\nRizal Mallarangeng, also of Gadjah Mada University, who said the
\nformer's view was \"anti-democratic\".<\/p>\n
Rizal argued that the number of political parties was not the
\nproblem.<\/p>\n
Observers should, instead, focus their attention on the new
\npolitical laws soon to be introduced by the government, since
\nthey were \"the rules of the game\", he said.<\/p>\n
\"They are the very starting point of the institutionalization
\nof reform,\" Rizal said.<\/p>\n
Separately, Akbar Tandjung said in Bandung yesterday that
\nGolkar was ready to ally itself with other parties with a similar
\nplatform in order to survive the next general election.<\/p>\n
He also acknowledged that Golkar would need to change some of
\nits political style in order to win back the people's confidence
\nin it.<\/p>\n
\"Our political life in the future will be very diverse with
\nthe emergence of so many new parties, some of which are believed
\nto be able to win people's support. So Golkar must take them into
\naccount,\" he was quoted by Antara as saying. (aan\/swe)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/sofjan-to-gather-businessmen-to-help-parties-1447893297",
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