Can Hamzah-Agum beat the titans?

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Ridwan M. Sijabat, Jakarta

As a local saying goes, when elephants clash the deer caught in the middle dies. But the campaign team of Hamzah Haz and Agum Gumelar is convinced that the delicate but skillful deer will prevail.

"Let the elephants kill one another, the deer representing the United Development Party (PPP) will win the competition," Hamzah's chief strategist Hasrul Azhar told The Jakarta Post at party headquarters here on Friday.

The "elephants" here are major parties Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) and the Golkar Party -- which have nominated President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Gen. (ret) Wiranto as their presidential candidate respectively -- who are in tight competition for votes, including those of the vast membership of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nadhlatul Ulama.

Hamzah's team say they have been lobbying influential clerics, and thus are upbeat that their presidential and vice presidential hopefuls will win over a large part of NU's 40 million voters.

"Hamzah is a nadliyin (NU member) and he still has many influential colleagues in the largest Muslim organization," Hasrul said.

Shrewd politicians working for their chosen candidates have been intensively courting NU's elite and members. The latest result seems to be Thursday's fatwa issued by dozens of NU clerics saying that people should not abstain from the July polls; and that they fully supported the decision of the National Awakening Party (PKB), which main basis is NU, to endorse Wiranto and urged (not instructed, as earlier reported) followers to vote for the Wiranto-Solahuddin Wahid ticket.

Such an edict could create division among the NU elite, which could work to the benefit of the underdog candidate, Hamzah's team says.

Hasrul said he and his deputy from the PPP, Suryadharma Ali, were approaching Muslim groups and organizations while his other deputy, Wahab Mokodongan from Agum's camp, would focus on nationalist groups and families of retired servicemen.

Hasrul said the team's target was to contend the likely runoff of the presidential election in September.

"PPP's gain of 8.15 percent, or 9.24 million, of 113.4 votes in the recent legislative election is just 'basic capital'," Hasrul said of the small gain of the PPP in April's polls.

Wahab Mokodongan, a former spokesman for the Indonesian Military (TNI), said his team had been approaching organizations and networks related to Agum. These include the Indonesian Sports Committee (KONI) which Agum chairs, communities in Sulawesi, where Agum once served as military commander, and Lampung in southern Sumatra where Agum led the local military district. Agum was also governor of the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas). The nonactive minister of transportation, Agum is still a key figure in the Indonesian Transportation Society.

"Agum is a nationalist and has strong links with many mass organizations and peripheral groups," Hasrul said.

Yet working the "roots" won't hurt any "nationalist" -- wooing voters from the home provinces of Hamzah and Agum, namely West Kalimantan and West Java, team members say, is also crucial.

Selected members of the Hamzah Haz-Agum Gumelar campaign team:

o Hasrul Azhar: a member of the United Development Party (PPP) from North Sumatra, he has good connections with the PPP leadership.

o Andi M. Ghalib: a former attorney general who once faced corruption charges, he leads the campaign team's division to mobilize supporters with musician Jelly Tobing as his deputy.

o Eggie Sudjana: a founder of the Indonesian Muslim Workers' Union who led rallies on workers' and Muslim-related issues.

o Tosari Wijaya: a former chairman of the United Development faction in the People's Consultative Assembly.

o Dorce Gamalama: a famous entertainer, the hajjah (a woman who has gone on the haj) is a former bus conductor and nightclub singer who underwent a sex change almost 20 years ago.