A new Golkar?

A new Golkar?

The sudden deluge which washed out the pre-election rally for
Indonesia's ruling Golkar party may well be a portent for the
June 7 poll. After decades as the poodle of former President
Soeharto, the party may find it takes more than a recent apology
for past misdeeds before it can re-invent itself. Pressure for
reform is too deep-rooted for the electorate to be satisfied with
half-measures.

No matter how earnestly President Bacharuddin Habibie may seek
to distance himself from the old regime, his history as Mr.
Soeharto's protege overshadows all his efforts.

Too many of the old guard remain for the majority of the
electorate to believe that the party genuinely has a new
political agenda, or that it has any new answers to Indonesia's
troubles. Ethnic and sectarian violence in Aceh and Ambon, the
problem of East Timor, and the wave of "ninja" killings in East
Java, make it clear that stability is a distant prospect, even
without the soaring inflation and mass unemployment which have
brought thousands to the brink of starvation, fueled general
unrest and anti-Chinese riots.

Gradual transition to full democracy should mean swifter
economic recovery, but no party can dodge the issues which divide
the nation. The president's commitment to democratic reform may
be genuine, but it lacks pace, and with so many rival parties
competing for seats, it is unlikely any single group will win the
balance of power.

Given the inexperience of opposition leaders, and the
fractionalized parliament which could result from 48 contending
parties, political stability in Indonesia may still be years
away.

-- The South China Sunday Morning Post, Hong Kong