...but others not, call it clandestine

...but others not, call it clandestine

JAKARTA (JP): One of the promises that Ismail Hasan Metareum
made shortly after being elected chairman of the Moslem-based
United Development Party (PPP) recently was he will recruit as
many intellectuals as possible.

"We need their contributions in our efforts to strengthen the
party," he said.

Zarkasih Nur, also of PPP, said the party's executive board
has followed up on Ismail Hasan's plan and held a meeting with 50
intellectuals from the country's most prestigious campuses.

"This is a new tradition for us. These intellectuals may not
be included in the executive board, but they have agreed to
provide us with input in running the party's programs," he said.

When pressed to reveal the names of the scholars, however,
Zarkasih refused. "They cannot explicitly declare that they are
involved with PPP, because they are still bound (by their
positions, mostly as civil servants)," he told The Jakarta Post.

Precautions are also needed, Zarkasih said, because PPP does
not want to repeat old mistakes such as recruiting intellectuals
for the party's think tank only to find later on that they had
their eyes trained on the party's chairmanship or leadership.

"There are people like that, so we have to be careful,"
Zarkasih said. Although he did not name names, he was apparently
referring to economist Dr. Sri Bintang Pamungkas, the party's
enfant terrible, who was recruited because of his magnetism for
the younger people but later "betrayed" the leadership by
contesting the government-backed leader Ismail Hasan.

Likewise the smallest party, the populist Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI). Dr. Sukowaluyo Mintorahardjo claimed many
scholars have expressed an interest in joining PDI because it
presents a different, courageous voice amidst the country's
political stagnation. "We offer a venue for efforts to improve
society and implement the state-ideology Pancasila," he asserted.
"Not positions, but struggle."

When asked to name the scholars, however, he managed to come
up with only the names of noted economist Kwik Kian Gie and
educator Mochtar Buchori.

The picture was entirely different for the ruling political
grouping, Golkar, who already has a strong tradition of
recruiting intellectuals.

Dr. Marwah Daud Ibrahim, a leading member in the executive
board, easily prattled off a long-list of names of intellectual
members of the group. It includes cabinet ministers and
legislators who hold doctoral degrees or are even professors at
prestigious universities, as well as businessmen or members of
intellectual associations.

The list also include noted figures such as former minister of
education Fuad Hassan, and many others.

"There is a strong bond Golkar enjoys with scholars,
especially because the decision-makers in this organization
respect opinions and suggestions put forward by the
intellectuals," she said. "We know our voice is heard."

"Golkar uses its think-tank well," she concluded.

The impression is, that results from the apparent "gap"
between those who walk proud when they enter Golkar and those who
have to "sneak" into PDI and PPP, there is more than the question
of which organization appreciates the intellectuals better.

Instead, it poses the questions of why it becomes a matter of
prestige and pride to join Golkar, and why joining PDI and PPP
calls for secrecy. The answer may well rest with this: uneven
distribution of power. (swe)