Candidates woo NU vote in E. Java

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Surabaya

The presidential election campaign will kick-off Tuesday, marking a new departure in the nation's history as it attempts to put its long history of authoritarian governments behind it following the 1998 resignation of Soeharto.

Five pairs of presidential/vice presidential hopefuls have emerged to contest the July 5 election. They include former Armed Forces commander Gen. (ret) Wiranto, who has teamed up with a senior leader of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Solahuddin Wahid, President Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is paired with NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi, national assembly speaker Amien Rais, who is paired with former transmigration minister Siswono Yudohusodo, former top security minister Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono who is paired with former coordinating minister for people's welfare Jusuf Kalla and Vice President Hamzah Haz, who has joined forces with former minister of transportation Gen. (ret) Agum Gumelar.

They are running in the presidential race under the banners of the Golkar Party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the Democratic Party and the United Development Party (PPP) respectively.

Ahead of the start of the official campaign period, some poll contenders visited East Java on Sunday in an apparent attempt to woo the support of NU followers. The province is the stronghold of the country's largest Muslim organization.

Wiranto attended a mass prayer meeting at the Al-Ghoziny Muslim boarding school in Buduran district, Sidoarjo regency, where he also met National Awakening Party (PKB) chief patron Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid for the first time since the party officially announced its support for Wiranto's presidential bid last week.

Wiranto's running mate Solahuddin Wahid, meanwhile, visited the East Java chairman of the hard-line Muslim group, the Islamic Defenders Front, Habib Abdurrahman Assegaf, in his boarding school in Pasuruan to ask for his support.

NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi spent his weekend in Surabaya attending the ground-breaking ceremony for the NU's new East Java office. Hasyim donated Rp 1 billion toward the project, which is expected to cost the NU Rp 12 billion.

His running mate, Megawati, was in Bogor, West Java, on Sunday, but she sent her daughter Puan Maharani on a trip to Jombang, where she visited the Chasbullah Bahrul Ulum Islamic boarding school. Puan asked the students of the school to support her mother's bid.

The people will, for the first time ever, elect their top leaders directly after this power was vested for almost half a century in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) as the highest lawmaking body and the receptacle of the people's sovereignty.

During Soeharto's 32-year-long New Order regime, the MPR convened once every five years with huge fanfare to reelect the autocrat as president.

With the demise of the New Order regime, the lawmaking body swiftly amended the Constitution, paving the way for direct presidential elections.

Given the dominant role of the old political forces, however, there is no guarantee that those who win the election will heed the people's wishes.

The Megawati-Hasyim ticket, which is touted as a blending of the Islamic and nationalist camps, appears to be little more than a ploy to secure short-term gains, critics say.

Megawati herself will have little to campaign about in the run-up to the poll given the little progress she made during her three-year stint as president.

The voters punished her in the April 5 legislative election with the PDI-P garnering only 18.35 percent of the vote, almost half its 1999 showing of 33 percent.

The Susilo-Kalla ticket, although considered the front-runner in the race so far, apparently lacks resources, with the nascent Democratic Party owing much to Susilo's charisma.

The Amien-Siswono ticket, supported by six small parties, lacks a strong grass-roots base. Although the pair have declared war on corruption, collusion and nepotism, the voters are wary of Amien's penchant for wily maneuvering.

The Hamzah-Agum ticket also lacks a wide base, with support for this pairing probably not extending far beyond the ranks of PPP voters.

The Wiranto-Solahuddin ticket is perhaps the oddest of them all. A retired general, Wiranto has been accused of committing gross human rights violation while Solahuddin is known as a rights campaigner after a stint in the leadership of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).