Blind obedience to Megawati

Blind obedience to Megawati

Kornelius Purba
Staff Writer
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
korpur@yahoo.com

Only five of the 151 legislators (two of the original 153
died) from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) had the guts on Monday to openly defy the instruction
of their party boss, Megawati Soekarnoputri, to save former
ruling party Golkar from a major political embarrassment.

The party's top executives, even high-profile politicians such
as Roy B.B. Janis, are also too scared to argue against
Megawati's seemingly affectionate attitude toward outgoing
Jakarta Governor Lt. Gen. (ret.) Sutiyoso. Party members fully
know that Sutiyoso, the then Jakarta military commander, was also
responsible for the bloody attack against Megawati's supporters
on July 27, 1996, and there was no justifiable reason to reelect
Sutiyoso to another five-year term, but they could not prevent
Megawati's inclination toward Sutiyoso.

The total obedience of Megawati's followers does not stop
there. They undergo urine tests to order as Megawati wants to
know if anyone of her political loyalists has been taking drugs.
Megawati has also ordered all her ministers and government
officials to have urine tests. The results, however, are still
unknown.

The obedience of Megawati's followers is ironic, given that
they had hoped that the eldest daughter of the founding father
would end Soeharto's authoritarianism and bring prosperity and
justice to the nation. Many of them were victims of Soeharto's
iron-fisted leadership, sidelined in national politics, or simply
the jobless.

Megawati seems to have decided to forget the July 27, 1996
tragedy, when the military orchestrated the violent breakup of a
gathering of her supporters on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta,
on that black Saturday. The incident skyrocketed Megawati to
national fame because she was portrayed as the most potent symbol
of Soeharto's victims.

It is understandable that Megawati has decided to save Golkar
chairman Akbar Tandjung from a House of Representatives political
inquiry, as evident in last week's voting -- she may have been
inspired by Golkar. Megawati is believed to have made up her mind
on Akbar and Sutiyoso at her official residence on Jl. Teuku
Umar, Central Jakarta. The house was once used by Soeharto in his
capacity as chairman of the Golkar board of patrons, where he
might have taken crucial decisions to crack down on the
opposition, including his attempt to scupper Megawati's political
career in 1996.

As in Golkar, where Soeharto had the final say on nearly all
Golkar affairs during his authoritarian rule, Megawati acts like
the supreme leader of PDI Perjuangan. From the election of the
party leadership at regency level to the suspension of a wayward
member -- all must await her petunjuk (direction).

Soeharto, who lives peacefully just a few hundred meters from
Megawati's residence, should be grateful to Megawati, although
the retired five-star general surely remembers how severely he
treated her father Sukarno before his death in 1970. When he
recently fell ill, President Megawati showed her willingness to
reduce Soeharto's suffering, although many were suspicious about
the timing of Soeharto's sickness. The legal proceedings
regarding Soeharto have barely begun.

While Megawati appears to be dominant over her party, there
are rising complaints from various sources about the activities
of her husband Taufik Kiemas. He has supported his wife since the
1970s, when Soeharto treated Sukarno's children as pariahs. There
is no doubt about his sincerity to his wife. The question is how
to adjust his role to avoid the public perception that Taufik
unduly influences Megawati's administration.

Megawati has reportedly often told people around her there is
no way that Taufik could influence her decisions. But is that
enough to convince the public, while some PDI Perjuangan members
and Cabinet members acknowledge the rising and more disturbing
power of Taufik, a PDI Perjuangan legislator?

Taufik is one reason cited behind Megawati's stance on
Sutiyoso -- because people cannot find any other explanation for
her firm decision.

Like it or not, PDI Perjuangan has prepared fertile ground for
Megawati to potentially grow as a dictator, whose decisions must
be wholeheartedly accepted.

She is a charismatic leader and people love her father who led
the nation toward its independence. She followed his rise and
fall.

Megawati now serves the nation at the palace in which she grew
up and where Sukarno also worked as president. Many hope that she
will indeed bring prosperity, justice and democracy to the
nation, and not repeat her predecessors' mistakes -- including
those of both her father and Soeharto.