Civil servants continue as centerpiece of next polls

Civil servants continue as centerpiece of next polls

JAKARTA (JP): Needless to say, Golkar's never-say-die efforts
to keep the civil servants corps under its full control during
the deliberation of a new elections bill now underway mirrors its
great dependence on the government workers.

In each of the last six elections, civil servants contributed
much to Golkar's lion's share of votes and its successful bid to
maintain a single majority in the House of Representatives.

Having no less than five millions members, the civil servants
corps has helped Golkar grab between 60 percent and 70 percent of
the vote share. The political group gained a record 74 percent of
votes in the last elections, in 1997.

Mobilization of civil servants has been subjected to a
constant outcry by rival parties ever since it was initiated
prior to the 1971 polls. But it fell on deaf ears, although the
practice conspicuously led to a vast range of violations.

The controversy lies not only with the fact that civil
servants have become Golkar's political tool, but the abuse of
power which restricts the civil servants to a no-choice
situation.

It has been an open secret that new civil servant recruits are
obliged to pledge their allegiance to Golkar, although the 1974
Basic Law of Public Administration states that government
employees' political rights are guaranteed in line with the 1945
Constitution.

J. Kristiadi of the Center for Strategic and International
Studies criticizes, "The so-called monoloyalty of the bureaucracy
-- which is supposed to execute policies -- to Golkar, which as a
political group is involved in policymaking, bears a conflict of
interests."

The fact goes that way. It's difficult to differentiate a
government official as part of the bureaucracy from his or her
position as a Golkar cadre. It was common in the past that
ministers inserted a meeting with Golkar cadres in the agenda of
their field tours.

Golkar has repeatedly argued that monoloyalty is vital to
maintain unity among civil servants, a lesson it learned from the
Old Order when the corps incorporated people who belonged to
various political parties and ideologies.

Golkar functionary Rully Chairul Azwar said that such a
political uniformity would not only ensure continuity of
development programs, but would leave the bureaucracy immune to
political conflicts that might cost its existence as a public
service institution.

"It's normal that for those sakes, a political party which
wins an election wants its men to fill all posts in the
bureaucracy," he said a few months after Golkar cruised
unchallenged to its sixth straight win in the 1997 polls.

"Every political party has the right to do the same thing if
it emerges from the elections the winner," he added.

Golkar's insistence to maintain the civil servants' support
also lies with historical ties, which accounted for its rise to
power.

The political organization was founded by the military and
occupational groups which encompassed various professions in 1964
to challenge the fast growing Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

An ill-fated coup blamed on the PKI in 1965 marked the
beginning of a development-oriented regime under Army general
Soeharto largely called the New Order.

To help Golkar win the first elections in the new era,
rescheduled for 1971, the military-dominated government sought
civil servants' support. A presidential decree issued prior to
the polls established the civil servants corps (Korpri) whose
members were obliged to affiliate with Golkar.

Since then, the bureaucracy has become one of three major
pillars of Golkar, other than the Armed Forces and the rest of
occupational groups.

And to guarantee it a long-time political upper hand, Golkar
named president Soeharto, who took office in 1967, to chair its
powerful board of patrons.

In 1985, the government adopted a floating mass policy which
bars political organizations from campaigning below the regency
level.

The policy, instead, favors Golkar very much due to the fact
that all heads of villages belong to the civil servants corps
and, thus, are Golkar members.

In each election, a civil servant, as well as other Golkar
cadres, carried out a duty called dasa karya (10 missions), which
obliged him or her to recruit nine other voters. They can be
immediate family members, other relatives or neighbors.

"Canvassing can take place in bed, in the kitchen or at the
well," Rully said, referring to methods of recruiting voters from
among one's own family and neighborhood.

According to Korpri's chairman Feisal Tamin, from civil
servants and their families alone, Golkar enjoyed an estimate 30
million of voters.

Such a figure will definitely be precious, particularly
because the next elections are expected to see dozens of
political parties contesting and a single majority become a dream
of the past. (amd)