The Golkar backlash<\/p>\n
Growing calls to outlaw the Golkar Party may seem justifiable
\ngiven the ghastly record it accrued while ruling the country for
\n32 years, but they have come too little and too late. To many
\npeople, Golkar remains a stigma from the New Order regime, but
\nthe fact that it has managed to survive the reform era has given
\nit the legitimacy for continued participation in this country's
\npolitical landscape.<\/p>\n
On the contrary, the demands, especially if they are
\naccompanied by violent attacks on Golkar property as we have
\nwitnessed these past few days, can be detrimental to the reform
\nmovement. Those who are seeking Golkar's dissolution are veering
\ntoward unconstitutional and undemocratic practices, the very acts
\nwhich the reform movement has been fighting to eradicate.<\/p>\n
The issue of Golkar's political legitimacy and its right to
\nexist should have been settled once and for all some two or three
\nyears ago. Its fate should have been sealed when the reform
\nmovement brought the tyrannical regime of president Soeharto to
\nits knees in 1998. Golkar was, after all, the political machine
\nwhich propped up the autocrat for more than three decades.<\/p>\n
Golkar's fate could also have been settled before the nation
\nheld its first ever democratic general election in June 1999. The
\nfact that not a single one of the new reformist parties
\nquestioned Golkar's participation then was tacit approval that
\nthe party, whatever its past record may have been, still had a
\nright to contest the elections in a democratic Indonesia.<\/p>\n
As it turned out, Golkar not only survived, but it defied
\npredictions by coming second in the general election, behind the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan). Golkar,
\ntherefore, has managed not only to entrench its political
\nlegitimacy, but as the election runner-up, it retains the right
\nto call some of the shots on major national political issues.<\/p>\n
Thus, Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung, despite having served in
\nthree different Cabinets under Soeharto, secured his post as
\nspeaker of the House of Representatives after the 1999 elections.
\nGolkar played a major role in electing Abdurrahman Wahid of the
\nNational Awakening Party (PKB) as president in October 1999 when
\nit became apparent that its own candidate, the incumbent B.J.
\nHabibie, did not have enough support to run against the leading
\ncontender Megawati Soekarnoputri of PDI Perjuangan.<\/p>\n
The largest single mistake made by the reform movement, as
\nwell as the political parties that were formed out of the
\nmovement, was in relaxing its momentum once Soeharto resigned. By
\ntreating his downfall as an end, the movement effectively ended
\nits reform agenda there, leaving some of the main pillars of the
\nregime intact. As these new reform parties busied themselves in
\npreparation for the 1999 elections they completely forgot about
\nGolkar, which quietly but quickly consolidated its position to
\nemerge from the turmoil virtually unscathed.<\/p>\n
Today, like it or not, the nation has to live with this fact.
\nAs long as we profess to live with democratic principles and to
\nabide by the law, we must accept the fact that Golkar can and
\nwill determine some, but not all, of the developments in the
\ncountry's political process.<\/p>\n
Golkar can frustrate the reform agenda. The present
\nadministration's failure to prosecute past human rights abuses
\nand prominent corruptors are cases in point where Golkar has made
\nits presence felt. Now, the nation must even live with the
\nprospect of Golkar returning to rule, in the same way that some
\ncommunist parties have been returned to power in Eastern Europe.<\/p>\n
Why the issue of Golkar's legitimacy should be raised today
\nhas something to do with the ongoing power struggle between the
\nHouse of Representatives and President Abdurrahman. While Golkar
\nplayed a role in last week's move to censure the President over
\nhis alleged role in two political scandals, it was not, by any
\nmeans, the only faction to have done so. PDI Perjuangan and other
\nreformist parties also had a hand in the censure motion.<\/p>\n
Golkar, however, given its terrible record, makes for an easy
\nand convenient target, witnessed by the violent backlash at
\nGolkar offices in a number of East Java towns this past week
\nafter the President manifested the Golkar stigma. But by doing
\nso, the embattled President risks provoking Golkar and its
\nsupporters, whose strengths must never be underestimated.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, given that Golkar's political legitimacy has been
\nsecured in a democratic Indonesia, attempts to outlaw the party
\nin itself would give the reform movement a bad name.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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