Can another 'marhaenis' party attract swing voters?

Sandy Darmosumarto, Research and Development Unit, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Many parties wave symbols of the ideology established by founding father Sukarno, but they may not really understand his teachings. This is the reason to set up our own party, say founders of every party using such symbols, including that of Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, one of Sukarno's daughters.

Rachmawati also seems to think that she shares the same right to the presidential seat as her younger sister, Megawati Soekarnoputri, whose Indonesian Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is no longer seen by many as the champion of the little people, or marhaen in their father's words.

Rachmawati and leaders of five other parties that did not meet the requirements to contest the elections set up the Pioneers' Party, or Partai Pelopor, on Aug. 29, 2002.

The party pledges to revamp the education system -- and Rachmawati may indeed be serious in raising people's awareness so they are not easily fooled and bought by false political slogans.

Education is her active field of involvement, through her struggle to set up Bung Karno University, the establishment of which was initially not granted permission during the Soeharto years.

But like a few other parties, the party's core agenda for political education is "Sukarno's true teachings", mainly marhaenisme, a proletarian ideology based on the dignity of the self-employed, though poor, people. As with the other parties, Rachmawati and her colleagues would have to work hard to find an effective way to sell this ideology.

They seem confident enough. Unlike other parties riding on the back of the Sukarno symbol, the Pioneers' Party logo does not use the bull, which is associated with Indonesia's first president.

But even Sukarno, ever progressive, moved on from marhaenisme to create other concepts that he constantly offered as embodiments of Indonesian identity. One such is nasakom, a concept blending nationalism, religion and communism, -- which suddenly ceased to be mentioned since the aborted 1965 coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party.

Marhaenisme still holds relevance for parties like Rachmawati's, because it is basically about self-reliance, and the parties connect this to nationalism. The first party set up in 1927 by Sukarno, the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI), initiated this idea linking self-reliance and nationalism, long before the country declared independence in 1945.

As seen in Rachmawati's statements on her website, www.rachmawati.com, the party appeals not only to the common disappointment in the current leadership prevailing among the electorate -- which almost every other party is doing -- but also to feelings of betrayal of the founding father's heritage -- even by his own daughter and her sister, the incumbent president.

Policies that were "overtly capitalist-liberal" and "bending over" to the International Monetary Fund has led the country "even further away from the goals of 'Indonesian Socialism' as mandated in the proclamation of independence of Aug. 17, 1945" read out by Sukarno, she says.

Diplomatic flops, like the loss of the tiny Sipadan and Ligitan islands to Malaysia, Rachmawati continues, reflect the "humiliating setback" for a nation once known for its "brilliant role" in the international community, such as hosting the first Asian-African Conference, another brainchild of Sukarno's.

Thus the need for the establishment of the party, which she says was inspired by Sukarno's writings on the need for a "pioneering party".

It seems the success of the party would depend somewhat on Rachmawati's continued display of well-rounded criticisms of the current leadership -- and she has so far been the most consistent, vocal critic of Megawati among the Sukarno clan.

But the party's battle lies beyond the bounds of family.

Party Secretary-General Eko Suryo Santjojo claims there are significant numbers of traditional supporters in Java and North Sumatra because nationalist pride is strong in those two regions. More support could be expected from South Sumatra, East and West Kalimantan, Bali, Maluku and Papua, he said.

The party expands its map of potential voters with the inclusion of poor, urban youngsters who see themselves as nationalists or those affiliated with the largest Muslim organization, the Nadhlatul Ulama (NU). It is no coincidence that the party once asked former NU leader and former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid to sit on its board.

At a gathering of thousands of NU members in December, Rachmawati told the audience that they could also continue the teachings of Sukarno, "which cannot be claimed by nationalist groups alone". "Take, for example, PDI-P. They've violated Bung Karno's teachings," she said.

Gus Dur was to accompany her, but he was detained by other business.

Meanwhile, just this month, Megawati paid a courtesy call with party dignitaries to a noted Islamic boarding school affiliated with the NU in East Java, a stronghold of both the NU and PDI-P, and home to nationalist voters whom many parties are courting.

During Megawati's visit, NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi, who is among those PDI-P is considering as Megawati's running mate, spoke of "a nationalist-religious coalition". Some took this to mean a possible alliance, in whatever form, between NU's oft- claimed 40 million-strong membership and PDI-P.

Lacking any visible link to mass organizations, if the Pioneers' Party hopes to gain some share of the votes from a possible NU-PDI-P "coalition", it would clearly take much more than Rachmawati's clever speeches.

Outline of Pioneers' Party platform:

With a national character in place and in the absence of domination from imperialist powers, the nation can achieve the aims of Trisakti as envisioned by Bung Karno: Political independence, economic self-sufficiency and cultural identity.

Our programs include:

o placing democracy in the hands of the people;

o reducing economic dependence on foreign institutions

o prioritizing improvement of the educational and health system;

o ensuring that farmers in Java have at least two hectares of land;

o pushing foreign and local corporations to increase their contribution to their respective communities;

o introducing collectivism to replace capitalism.