Changes in Golkar's makeup are only skin-deep

Changes in Golkar's makeup are only skin-deep

Golkar may have picked a new leader at its congress over the
weekend, but political analyst J. Soedjati Djiwandono believes
the New Order's former electoral machine has failed to reform
itself.

JAKARTA (JP): The ruling Golkar political grouping has just
ended its extraordinary congress, with a newly elected chairman,
Akbar Tandjung, who is concurrently state minister/secretary in
the Habibie Cabinet.

The congress is normally convened in October. However, it was
held earlier apparently in anticipation of the special session of
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) scheduled in December.
It seems to have been intended as an effort at internal
consolidation. Just what kind of consolidation, or perhaps more
accurately, whose consolidation and for what intent remains open
to question.

In a previous contribution to this column, I argued that
because it is the MPR, the supreme governing body of the
Indonesian political system that has the power to implement total
reform of the whole system, reform must begin with the political
parties, particularly Golkar as the so-called ruling "party". The
essence of that reform would be to make the party independent
from any government interference.

That Golkar, though considered the largest and the most
influential, has been the least independent of all the existing
political groups is shown by the fact it is ruled not by its
national board led by its chairman, but by its board of patrons,
particularly its chairman, Soeharto. The board of patrons is
vested with veto power in all matters of policy.

Now that Soeharto is no longer president it is unclear who is
calling the shots -- Habibie has replaced Soeharto as president
while retaining his position as executive chairman of the board
of patrons. The appointment of new members of the MPR, mostly
friends of Habibie under the umbrella of the Indonesian Moslem
Intellectuals Association, seems to indicate Habibie is getting
the upper hand.

In the meantime, there is no report the board of patrons has
been abolished, although an advisory board is reportedly soon to
be established following the extraordinary congress. Whether the
new body will be equally powerful as the board of patrons remains
to be seen.

Following his election as chairman, Akbar Tandjung said that
he should first consult Habibie on whether to resign from his
powerful and influential ministerial post. Later on, he was
reported as having prepared a deputy state/secretary.

Either way, the independence of the newly revamped national
board of Golkar will remain questionable. And given the
dissolution of the board of patrons, his continued post as
state/secretary would make him in his capacity as Golkar
chairman, and thus the entire body of Golkar, dependent on the
whim and wishes of President Habibie. I doubt it would be the
other way round.

What appears to be the only thing new, which may be in a sense
seen as a measure of reform, is that this time around the
chairman has been elected through a vote in competition with
other candidates.

Still, there were rumors that the assistant to the Armed
Forces (ABRI) chief of sociopolitical affairs, Maj. Gen.
Mardiyanto, upon instruction of Armed Forces Commander Gen.
Wiranto, had telephoned regional military commanders to
influence Golkar's chapters nationwide to vote for Akbar.

It was also rumored that Gen. Wiranto, who is concurrently the
minister of defense, had met with chairmen of 17 Golkar regional
chapters at Hotel Shangri-La in Central Jakarta to discuss the
election of the Golkar chairman. Such rumors may rightly arouse
doubts, suspicions and speculation regarding the independence of
Golkar from government interference or from ABRI.

Akbar Tandjung also said that Golkar was ready to engage
itself in free competition with other political parties in the
next general election.

Such competition, however, would remain unfairly weighted in
favor of Golkar unless the present law on elections is replaced
by a new one providing equal opportunity for all parties
contesting the election.

So far, Golkar has been allowed to have its representation
down to the village level, something denied to the other
political parties. Golkar exploits what it terms the "floating
mass" and government apparatus at all levels to support its
goals.

Deprived of all these, Golkar now finds some organizations,
such as the Indonesian Civil Servants Corps (KORPRI), Indonesian
Teachers Union (PGRI) and the MKGR mass organization, have
declared their independence explicitly or otherwise (Kosgoro,
another organization of cooperatives, has reportedly distanced
itself from Golkar, and workers' union SOKSI is likely to
reconsider its relations with Golkar. One is left wondering who
Golkar really represents at present.

And one does not easily forget that Golkar, more than any
other single political party or mass organization, has been more
closely related to and in large measure responsible for all the
evils of the New Order regime ultimately triggered the nationwide
demand for total reform.

Finally, Akbar Tandjung said that Golkar was now ready to
become a political party. This is interesting in that Golkar has
now decided to abandon its hypocrisy, yet still through
hypocritical means rather than by honestly admitting that Golkar
has been a political party all along, at least since the so-
called kinos -- kinds of caucuses representing organizations
affiliated to Golkar -- were supposed to cease to exist.

Since then, membership in Golkar has been through applications
by individuals who are not necessarily workers or employees.

Indeed, Golkar has not really gone through a metamorphosis. It
has not really changed its identity as the ruler's party rather
than the ruling party. Its reform is cosmetic. Its program makes
no mention of specifics.

Total reform would demand the dismantling of the entire system
of the New Order if we really want to have a new, democratic
Indonesia based on equality, justice for all and respect for
human rights.