What do PDI's losses mean for RI politics?<\/p>\n
The heavy losses suffered by the minority Indonesian
\nDemocratic Party in the recent election took many people by
\nsurprise. Cornelis LAY, a political sciences lecturer at Gadjah
\nMada University in Yogyakarta, dissects the issue.<\/p>\n
YOGYAKARTA (JP): The final election results that came out
\nearlier this week left the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) led
\nby government-back leaders Soerjadi and Buttu Hutapea with only
\n11 seats out of the 425 on offer in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
For many this total defeat was predictable and showed how
\nstrong the grassroots support is for deposed PDI chairwoman
\nMegawati Soekarnoputri.<\/p>\n
Not only have the people shown their allegiance to Megawati
\nbut they have sent a strong message that they are the true source
\nof sovereignty and legitimacy, a priceless lesson on the
\nsubstance of politics.<\/p>\n
PDI's catastrophic defeat is testimony that the government-
\nbacked congress which dethroned Megawati, based on what the
\ngovernment called "sacrosanct party constitution, provincial
\naspirations and PDI's interests", was the result of government
\nimagination devoid of accurate field data.<\/p>\n
But is the crushing of PDI a mere internal problem of the
\nparty or is it a revelation of something more basic in Indonesian
\npolitics?<\/p>\n
First of all, it is a national political tragedy that deserves
\nto be lamented by us all. There is no reason whatever for anybody
\nto rejoice. The deep tragedy is not that the Soerjadi camp has
\nbeen morally and politically penalized for an uncommitted sin but
\nthat it is the most blatant proof of the failure of our political
\ndevelopment during the last 30 years.<\/p>\n
It is not merely an internal issue for sure, let alone limited
\nto the Soerjadi camp. It is a reflection of the failure of the
\nthree-party format designed by the New Order regime.<\/p>\n
For over 25 years the three parties have fallen into a
\nprolonged emergency political format, a quasi-permanent
\ntransitory status. They are fragile and devoid of all autonomy,
\nnot only due to government repression and the overriding desire
\nof certain political actors to control and win elections, but
\nalso because the masses expectations of the parties' function are
\nincompatible with reality.<\/p>\n
If political institutionalization was one of the objectives of
\nthe 25-year history of our political development, we have missed
\nthe target. What has happened has been a continuous political
\ndeterioration and PDI's total loss is only the tip of the
\niceberg.<\/p>\n
If we think that a fragile political infrastructure is
\ndetrimental to the nation's development and political resilience,
\nwe must also accept that PDI's misfortune is a national tragedy.<\/p>\n
This idea will bring us to the serious question as to whether
\nor not we are on the right track with our party system. Will this
\nindeed lead us to political maturity and stability, to a
\ncivilized, moral and democratic political society?<\/p>\n
Or are we laying a foundation for long-term political
\ninstability which will find its expression, among other things,
\nin anarchy simply because the political parties have failed to
\nreasonably fulfill their minimal role?<\/p>\n
Amid the euphoria of this year's election, the above questions
\nhave been branded either superfluous saber-rattling or even
\nsubversive. However, we must have the moral courage to see the
\nPDI case with truly open eyes.<\/p>\n
At the political level, it is very hard to imagine an
\neffective system to cope with the internal and global changes in
\nthe next millennium if our political infrastructure is in a state
\nof fragility and uncertainty.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, with its landslide victory, Golkar has
\nachieved or even exceeded the wishes of its leaders. But it would
\nbe a mistake to overshadow PDI's total loss with Golkar's success
\nstory.<\/p>\n
By doing so we would dismiss the PDI case as solely an
\ninternal problem or even only as a problem of the Soerjadi camp.<\/p>\n
We all know that the PDI was, from its beginnings, a result of
\npolitical engineering born from a desire to form a three-pronged
\npolitical configuration.<\/p>\n
As we juxtapose Golkar's success story with PDI's misfortune,
\nthe first step to solve our political stagnation would be the
\nresignation of Soerjadi and his friends as an expression of moral
\nand political responsibility for their total failure in the
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
But most observers of PDI's development in the past year
\nbelieve that the Soerjadi camp is in charge because of external
\nmanipulation. This however we can only suppose, it is impossible
\nto prove.<\/p>\n
From the people's point of view, the PDI tragedy is also a
\nprocess of destruction carried out by the masses. This has
\nbrought the whole party structure, and with it our political
\nsystem, to a crossroads signposted with many question marks.<\/p>\n
It even opens the whole recent election to question concerning
\nits moral legitimacy, although on the surface it all looked very
\nnormal.<\/p>\n
Hopefully the situation is not as dreadful as the above
\nspeculation makes out. Nevertheless, the problems the House of
\nRepresentatives will face in the next five years are likely to
\ninduce a headache.<\/p>\n
The House mechanisms that have been established for more than
\n25 years are now facing a severe test. If the running of the 1982
\nto 1987 House, in which PDI's representation was also minimal,
\nwas problematic, the forthcoming session will be more so.<\/p>\n
Last week saw the government and the two other political
\nparties facing the difficulty of trying to justify the free
\nhandover of seats to the PDI.<\/p>\n
As for PDI's internal problems, we may soon witness a new
\nepisode, namely conflict within the Soerjadi camp, which will
\nagain sap the nation's energy. The elite at the center of power
\nmay tear each other apart, while the provincial elite who have
\nshown their loyalty, will vent their anger. An "all-out war" will
\nbe difficult to avoid.<\/p>",
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