Conflicts plague big parties

Conflicts plague big parties

Muhaimin Syamsuddin, Faculty of Letters Petra Christian University,
Surabaya

The spread of internal conflicts among almost all of the big
political parties in Indonesia is like an epidemic.

In the National Mandate Party (PAN) in January 2001, 16 of its
executives led by Faisal Basri and Bara Hasibuan declared that
they had resigned from the party.

The Crescent Star Party (PBB) saw disputes between two
founders: Chairman Yusril Ihza Mahendra and Hartono Mardjono, now
the chairman of the Indonesian Islamic Party (PII), a new party
declared on March 15.

The United Development Party (PPP) which was led by Vice
President Hamzah Haz now has a splinter party, the United
Development Party of Reform (PPP-Reformasi) declared by preacher
Zainuddin MZ.

Similarly, the National Awakening Party (PKB) now has two
rival chairmen each claiming legitimacy -- Matori Abdul Jalil and
Alwi Shihab.

These internal conflicts are bound to influence public policy
options, the recruiting and training of leaders for public
offices, and political education.

One factor causing such conflicts is of course the clash of
interests among party executives. For instance, the PPP split
followed an unsettled dispute over the party executive's decision
to postpone the party's congress from 2003 to 2004. The PPP
delayed the congress at the request of party chairman, Hamzah
Haz, to enable himself to run for the presidency in the next
election.

Zainuddin MZ said that postponing the party's congress from
2003 to 2004 was illegal and against the party's internal
regulations. The postponement, he added, aimed to block other
party's members from contesting the next presidential elections.

Another significant factor that stimulates internal conflicts
in political parties is the absence of good party management.
Conflict handling involves elements from outside the party, and
unnecessary overexposure in the media.

In the conflict of the PKB, after the impeachment of president
Abdurrahman Wahid during the people's consultative assembly
special session (SI-MPR) in 2001, the Kyai Khos played an
important role. These are a number of Kyai, the NU's religious
leaders or ulema, who are believed to have outstanding abilities,
a good knowledge of Islam, and are not PKB's executives.

Their involvement in handling PKB's internal conflicts
precisely sharpens the conflicts because they take sides. It is
commonly believed that Kyai Khos actually stand for Gus Dur to
win Alwi Shihab as the chairman. At last, they couldn't resolve
the conflicts peacefully.

Besides, Matori Abdul Jalil and Alwi Shihab preferred exposing
their conflicts in the mass media rather than meeting and
discussing the issues together to find the best solution.
Overexposure of the conflicts in the media makes the conflicts
more complicated. It does not stimulate a better understanding
but rather fosters prejudice to each other.

Other than a clash of interests among the party executives and
the absence of good party management, the political system which
centers upon the reliance on top figures is also liable to cause
internal conflicts in political parties. It means that internal
conflicts in political parties are rooted in the tremendous power
of the top figures.

Top figures, in this case, might be either the founders of the
party or the chairman. In other words, it can be said that
political parties in Indonesia are very personal and under
programmed. In this kind of political party system, opposing the
will of top figures means opposing the party itself.

This unfair political system eventually creates binary
opposition camps which often lead to a dispute, a quarrel, or
even a fight. Such a phenomenon can be found in the dispute and
conflict between Faisal Basri, a representative of the young
people's camp, versus Amien Rais as the chairman of National
Mandate Party (PAN); between Zainuddin MZ, a potential votes
getter, against Hamzah Haz as the chairman of United Development
Party (PPP); as well as between Matori Abdul Jalil as the
chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB) versus Abdurrahman
Wahid as the PKB's founder.

In conclusion, the clash of interests among the party
executives, the absence of good party management, and the
political system which centers upon the reliance on top figures
undoubtedly cause internal conflicts in political parties.

Therefore, trying to resolve the internal conflicts away by
resigning from the party or establishing a new splinter party
will not work. The parties have to be made better through
concrete work in party development, such as doing fit and proper
tests in appointing the party chairman and the party's central
board (DPP), as well as setting a political system run by parties
based on democracy rather than on the reliance of top figures. If
these are implemented, better parties will emerge in the future,
so that we could move forward in the development of Indonesia's
democracy.