Acclamation democracy

Acclamation democracy

Few political events since the 1999 presidential elections
have drawn as much public attention as the recent Indonesian
Democratic Party for Struggle Congress. This was certainly not at
least due to the fact that many people were keen to see how the
party would deal with an emerging internal opposition and with
Megawati Soekarnoputri's two competitors -- Dimyati Hartono and
Eros Djarot -- for the top post. All those who had hoped that
the party would live up to the noble principle as reflected in
its name, namely to fight for democracy, must have been gravely
disappointed. To me, the congress seemed to be a nearly perfect
copy of past Golkar congresses under the direction of former
president Soeharto.

It is quite obvious that chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri is
not willing to allow an internal party opposition. This may lead
to the question of how she might deal with an opposition in the
legislature, if her party were to win the 2004 general elections
and she were to become president. It is also obvious that
Megawati and her fanatic supporters have judged the candidacy of
Dimyati Hartono and Eros Djarot not as a legitimate and
democratic proceeding but as lese-majesty (insult to her majesty)
that deserves to be punished.

The fact that Megawati was finally reelected by acclamation,
and that she was given the right to select the new executive
board members instead of a voting process, are proof of the
political immaturity of the congress delegates who made these
decisions. Even if Megawati would have proposed her election by
acclamation as party chairwoman for life, I am sure the majority
of delegates would have given her their enthusiastic approval.

I consider it an alarming sign when in a political party which
calls itself democratic, members are either not allowed to bring
their criticism to the attention of their leaders or agree
without question to whatever their leaders deem right. And it is
even more alarming if members threaten to mobilize "50 party
cadres ... trained in supernatural powers to counter groups which
wanted to disrupt the congress and block Megawati from the
chairmanship election" (The Jakarta Post, March 27, 2000).

For the party's leaders, the congress could have been a great
opportunity to provide badly needed political education to the
party's grass roots and the public at large. They certainly
failed to make use of this opportunity, perhaps because they need
political education themselves -- particularly some basic lessons
in democracy.

MRS. HILDE MAY

Jakarta