Dissenters of the ruling Golkar contemplate forming new party

JAKARTA (JP): A number of former senior Golkar officials said on Monday that they were considering forming a new party because of discontent with the policies of the ruling political group.

But if a seminar the dissenters organized on Monday was any indication of their strength or popularity, they could be in for a big disappointment. Most of the big names invited to address the meeting stayed away.

The seminar was intended to challenge the Golkar executive board's recent decision to become a fully-fledged political party, a move which some of its former supporters questioned, including those who organized and attended the seminar.

"We are not a group of disgruntled people," Hayono Isman, a former top Golkar official and state minister of youth affairs and sports, said after the meeting.

"Holding the seminar is part of our efforts to arrest the downward trend in Golkar's popularity," he said.

He added that many of Golkar's traditional supporters had abandoned the group because of its reluctance to issue a public apology for its past mistakes.

"We are now looking at the possibility of forming a new political party," Hayono said.

Not unexpectedly, two top Golkar leaders invited to the meeting did not turn up. There was no explanation for the absence of Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung and Marzuki Darusman, the chairman of Golkar's faction in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

Other invited speakers who did not show up were former cabinet minister Emil Salim, Moslem scholar Nurcholish Madjid, political analyst Indria Samego and former Golkar legislator Tadjoeddin Noer Said.

Among the familiar faces who did turn up were former defense minister Edi Sudradjat, economist Sri Edi Swasono and former Golkar House of Representatives (DPR) legislators Bambang Warih Koesoemo, Mubha Kahar Muang, Tato S. Pradjamenggala, Udju S. Dinata, Indra Bambang Utoyo and M. Uncu Natsir.

The organizers of the seminar have called a press briefing on Tuesday morning to announce the conclusions of the meeting.

Edi Sudradjat, a retired Army general, disclosed that the participants were considering various options, including the establishment of a new party.

When asked if he would chair the new party, Edi said there were other figures eligible to become chairman.

Other people widely mentioned as possible candidates, besides Edi and Hayono, are former vice president Try Sutrisno, and former ministers Siswono Yudohusodo and Sarwono Kusumaatmadja.

Political observer A.S. Hikam, the only invited speaker who turned up at the seminar, questioned the plan to establish a new party.

"I wonder whether the plan is really based on their concern for the nation, or if it is merely a way of expressing their disappointment at being excluded from Golkar's new executive board?" he said.

Hikam said that forming a new political party would be useless because there were already too many parties in the country.

Golkar was founded with Army help in 1964 as a coalition of non-partisan functional and professional groups. Although it became the political machine of Soeharto during his 32-year presidency, Golkar steadfastly refused to call itself a political party until its extraordinary congress in July this year. (imn/edt)