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.