The year of political disputes<\/p>\n
Kurniawan Hari and
\nBambang Nurbianto
\nThe Jakarta Post
\nJakarta<\/p>\n
When the nation entered a reform era following the downfall of
\nautocratic president Soeharto in 1998 and his protege B.J.
\nHabibie in Oct.1999, there had been high expectation of the whole
\nnation for a more humane society.<\/p>\n
This year, three years after the beginning of the reform era,
\nthe signs of improvement do not appear. Major political parties
\ncame up as new political powers after the June 1999 elections
\nhave not yet been able to become agent of change.<\/p>\n
In a democratic society, political parties are expected to
\nbecome the spinal instruments of a civil society. They have to be
\nthe engines for law enforcement, for the creation of supremacy of
\nlaw, and for the establishment of a check and balance system.<\/p>\n
Those functions will work only if the political parties are
\nsolid and effective. And as organizations which represent the
\npeople, they are expected to fight for interest of the public, or
\nat least for their respective constituents.<\/p>\n
But the major political parties seem to have failed to fulfill
\nthose functions as they are quickly trapped in internal disputes.<\/p>\n
Politicians throughout 2001 were engaged in self interest
\npolitical maneuvers or horse trading, a far cry from touching
\npublic interests.<\/p>\n
People's expectation was reduced to skepticism. They know they
\ngain nothing from the political parties both as institutions or
\nby the politicians.<\/p>\n
A number of polling carried out by research centers,
\nnewspapers, and electronic media show how the people was getting
\ndisappointed over the political performance.<\/p>\n
Six major parties surged after the 1999 election including the
\nIndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Golkar
\nParty, the United Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening
\nParty (PKB), the National Mandate Party (PAN), and the Crescent
\nStar Party (PBB).<\/p>\n
Internal disputes<\/p>\n
In January, PAN was hit by internal dispute when 16 members
\nquit the party. They included former secretary general Faisal
\nBasri, and former deputy secretary general Bara Hasibuan.<\/p>\n
One of the reasons of the resignation was their disappointment
\nover the dominant role played by cadres from Muhammadiyah in the
\nparty. They were also unhappy with the party as it had moved from
\na party that promoted pluralism to one that emphasized
\nexclusivity.<\/p>\n
Another reason is the remitment of several controversial
\nfigures from the New Order regime like Fuad Bawazier.<\/p>\n
PBB's rift was sparked by conflicts between the party chairman
\nYusril Ihza Mahendra with several veterans politician like
\nHartono Mardjono and Abdul Kadir Djaelani.<\/p>\n
The party's executive board dismissed Hartono and Djaelani
\nfrom the party membership on Feb. 1 this year following their
\nclaim that they are respectively the legitimate chairman and
\nsecretary-general of the party.<\/p>\n
Last year, internal dispute hit the largest party, PDI
\nPerjuangan sparked by opposing views between those who wanted to
\ndefend Megawati Soekarnoputri leadership and those who demanded
\nher resignation after her election as the then vice-president.<\/p>\n
The dispute continues particularly between long time members
\nand new comers, forcing Arifin Panigoro to leave his leadership
\nin the party's House faction.<\/p>\n
Golkar, the second major party, faces crucial problem
\nfollowing the inability of its members to help BJ Habibie
\nreelected the 1999 Assembly's general session. The situation has
\nbeen lasting until present.<\/p>\n
Internal disputes in PPP and PKB, the third and fourth biggest
\nparties still take places.<\/p>\n
A renegade faction in PPP, which is not satisfied with the way
\nthe party is being led, threatened to establish a splinter party
\ncalled \"PPP reformasi\".<\/p>\n
The faction, which claimed support from 13 PPP chapters
\nthroughout the country, demanded that the PPP central board
\nrevoke its decision to hold the board election after the 2004
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
The central board should accelerate the chairmanship election
\nto 2002 to provide young cadres in the party with a greater
\nchance of replacing the older, existing executives, according to
\nthe faction, they said.<\/p>\n
Zainuddin M.Z., a noted Islamic preacher, will likely to
\nannounce the establishment of PPP Reformasi early next year.<\/p>\n
PKB internal bickering began when the party's chairman Matori
\nAbdul Djalil attended last July Assembly's special session which
\nwas boycotted by the party as the session was held to oust
\nparty's chief patron Abdurrahman Wahid from his presidency.<\/p>\n
Matori was fired from the party chairmanship, and was replaced
\nby former foreign affairs minister Alwi Shihab. But Matori
\ninsisted that he was still the party's chairman.<\/p>\n
Each of the two PKB factions planned to hold a national
\nparty's extraordinary congress to reaffirm leadership of both
\nAlwi and Matori in the respective faction. Matori even claimed
\ncongress of his faction will be opened by President Megawati.<\/p>\n
Ignoring Reform Agenda<\/p>\n
Instead of trying to outline policy on how to regain economic
\nrecovery, political parties early this year sought a way to
\nunseat erratic president Abdurrahman Wahid.<\/p>\n
Political parties that were rivals in the presidential
\nelection on October 1999 were united this year to remove Wahid
\nfrom office.<\/p>\n
Prior to the 1999 election, political parties vowed to carry
\nout all the reform agendas.<\/p>\n
They pledged to eradicate corrupt practices, to implement law
\nenforcement, regional autonomy, and establish civil society.<\/p>\n
However, all those reform agendas have been subordinated to
\nvested interests.<\/p>\n
A reform agenda that apparently gets response from the
\npolitical parties might be the call for amendment to the
\nConstitution. The largest party, PDI Perjuangan, at first refused
\nto carry out the demand, but later gave backing.<\/p>\n
In the face of the public, all parties appear to be the
\nspearheads of the amendment. But in forum inside the legislature
\nbuilding, those political parties busily practice \"horse-trading\"
\namong themselves.<\/p>\n
The selfishness of those parties had left the essence of the
\namendment protracted and unfocused. There was no grand design in
\nthe amendment process, but following the \"pull and push\"
\nnegotiation based on the interest of each party.<\/p>\n
The Assembly had finished amendment to 25 Articles in the
\nfirst 9 chapters of the Constitution. But the demand to form a
\nconstitutional commission had been rejected by legislators.<\/p>\n
The calls from public for a law enforcement has been responded
\nby the political parties with the creation of inquiry committees
\nyielding in mere recommendations without concrete act of law
\nenforcement.<\/p>\n
The formation of the rainbow cabinet in August 2001 also
\ndisplays the greed of the political parties to share power in the
\nexecutive body. None of them has the valor to take the opposition
\nstance to fully control and supervise the government.<\/p>\n
I-box
\nDistribution of seats in the House of Representatives:<\/p>\n
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle 153
\nGolkar Party 120
\nUnited Development Party 58
\nNational Awakening Party 51
\nNational Mandate Party 34*
\nCrescent Star Party 13
\nJustice Party 7*<\/p>\n
*) National Mandate Party and Justice Party hold alliance and
\nform the Reform Faction<\/p>",
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