Farmers planning to form political party

JAKARTA (JP): Leaders of the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) announced yesterday a plan to form their own political party, claiming 72 million potential votes if they contest next year's general election.

HKTI Chairman H.M. Ismail told Antara in Semarang that the establishment of Patani, the acronym of the Indonesian Farmers and Fishermen Party, would be declared during the association's congress in Jakarta from Oct. 10 to Oct. 13.

"With Patani, farmers and fishermen will have their own political party. They will no longer be mere pawns or servants of other political parties," said Ismail, who is a former governor of Central Java.

HKTI was previously affiliated to Golkar, the ruling political group which helped keep Soeharto in power for 32 years until May.

The new party will represent the interests of around 72 million people in the country, Ismail said, adding that the October congress would decide on the leadership line up.

Farmers, especially landless farmers, and fishermen are among the poorest members of society. During the years of rapid economic growth, their conditions rarely improved as they faced reversing terms of trade for their produce vis-a-vis manufactured products.

Patani, which in Indonesian means Mr. Farmer, is the latest in the proliferation of political parties since B.J. Habibie was pushed into the presidency by the sweeping demand for reform. At least 45 parties have been formed in the last nine weeks based on various platforms, such as religion, ethnicnity, labor, and women.

The government is currently drafting a new set of political laws which will include regulating the political parties and the election mechanism. Under Soeharto, only three political parties were permitted to contest general elections.

Ismail said that since independence in 1945, farmers and fishermen had worked tirelessly to make the most of their independence, without complaining too much

But they had never been given the respect or treatment they deserved by the political elite, nor did they possess the bargaining power commensurate with their contribution to the nation's economic development, he said.

Farmers and fishermen should no longer stay silent and wait for their fate to change. They should not allow themselves to be exploited by the political and economic elite, he said.

"They should be more proactive. They should come up with their own initiatives to fight for better respect and treatment," he said.

It was high time the farming and fishing communities united and organized themselves to improve their lot, he said. (emb)