'Dirty' convention could hurt Golkar's candidate

Jusuf Wanandi, Jakarta

It was a dream that turned into a nightmare, watching the two- stage elections of the presidential candidate at the April 20 Golkar Party convention.

In the first round, Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung won, ahead of Gen. (ret.) Wiranto by 10 votes (147 against 137 votes). Meanwhile, Aburizal Bakrie, thought to be an ally of Akbar for having crafted a written agreement with him, got 118 votes; and Prabowo, Wiranto's arch-enemy, got 39. Their combined votes would have come to 304. Wiranto, together with his ally, Surya Paloh, would have only got 214 votes. It's not surprising many observers thought the second round would be a walkover for Akbar.

But within half-an-hour everything changed. In the second round Wiranto won, with 315 votes against Akbar's 227 votes.

Speculation has it this happened for two reasons. One is vote buying. Many knew about the money at the conference so this is not an assumption. And apparently the vote buying involved a lot of money.

Then there is the change of heart of Aburizal's supporters from Akbar to Wiranto, perhaps because of money or because Aburizal threw his weight behind Wiranto. Probably, both reasons were equally significant.

I contest the view of Kristiadi, a colleague of mine at the Centre for Strategic International Studies, who called the change of heart as a call from the conscience. That is simply false. It was money politics at play and a shift of alliance by a trusted partner of Akbar.

Kristiadi thought Akbar was defeated by his arrogance and failure to get the votes at the grassroots -- the regional representatives. He failed to recognize Akbar's efforts in reforming a Golkar damaged for so long by Soeharto through corruption and money politics. Akbar had tried very hard for five years to change, reform and consolidate the party into a respectable one.

Now, because of what happened during the national convention, there is only one way to go for the party -- down. This time Golkar won the legislative elections but it will not mean much for the future of the party, which has now become embroiled in corruption of incredible magnitude. That is Akbar's deepest regret. His modest achievement in reforming Golkar was totally wiped out by money politics.

The idea of the convention might have been a good one but it opened the way for vote buying to do great damage to the party. My earlier assessment Golkar could reform and would become the hope of the future for Indonesia has been completely shattered by this convention.

In the coming presidential election, it is still not certain Golkar will be united in its support for Wiranto. As a statesman, Akbar has appealed to party members to support Wiranto but it is uncertain whether that appeal will be followed. This is because Wiranto has never been one of Golkar's party members and has only been involved in the party for about a year. Why should Golkar members be loyal to him?

Many in groups in Indonesia are shocked about the result of the convention. Their agenda now is to prevent Wiranto from becoming president. They think that somebody so close to Soeharto and who had been so high in the Armed Forces hierarchy, could not change his terms of reference and ideas.

On top of that, there is Wiranto's alleged command responsibility over the many abuses of power by the troops under him -- in East Timor and in Jakarta (the riots in May 1998, the student protests of 1999 and 2000), which will sooner or later catch up with him. Looking at his entourage and close supporters, especially those former military members, it is hard to imagine he could or would change if he ever became president.

Many think under Wiranto, political freedom would be sacrificed for stability. They also suspect Wiranto is financially backed by the Soeharto family and former cronies.

These anti-Wiranto groups could mobilize. A concerted effort on their part in cooperation with the media, students, other political parties, solidarity groups and mass organizations could reach out to the grassroots to influence them against Wiranto's election. We should hope this indeed becomes the case because the Indonesian people do not deserve this setback after so many years of crisis and uncertainty.

The writer is Co-founder and Member of the Board of Trustees of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).