Glut of parties, most with emotional appeal

Glut of parties, most with emotional appeal

Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The surge in the number of political parties -- now around 180 --
may signal a thriving democracy but analysts warned on Friday new
parties catered more to the political illiterate and failed to
meet the people's diverse needs.

Over the past few months new parties have sprung up, hoping
to win seats in the legislature in the 2004 general elections.

New parties abound with about 180 having submitted their
registration forms to the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights.

Several politicians and analysts have said that the ideal
number was 10, reasoning it would make for a stronger opposition.

More than 40 parties contested the 1999 election, many of whom
have since folded.

The numbers of parties signing up to contest the elections are
likely to plunge under the proposed election bill.

The draft law, being debated by the House of Representatives,
stipulates that a party must have branches in at least 20 of the
30 provinces to be eligible for the elections.

It must also have executive boards in two-thirds of the number
of regencies or cities in one province.

These requirements should ensure that only serious parties
fight the election. Once they do, the government will have to
partly subsidize their campaign activities.

General Election Commission (KPU) member Imam Prasodjo said
the restriction should not choke off channels for the public's
aspirations.

The sociologist said the rise of new parties also reflected
Indonesia's diverse society.

"It shows that current political parties have failed to
accommodate the public's aspirations," he said.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan),
which won the 1999 elections with 34 percent of the vote, has
seen a number of defections among its top members, some of whom
decided to set up a new party altogether.

Last Wednesday, PDI Perjuangan dissident Eros Djarot launched
the Bung Karno Nationalist Party (PNBK). Bung Karno refers to the
name of Indonesia's founding-father Soekarno.

Earlier this year, another PDI Perjuangan member, Dimyati
Hartono, established the Indonesian Motherland Party (PITA).

Analysts predicted splinter parties like PNBK and PITA would
likely try to woo members from their original parties to join
them.

But a senior party member of PDI Perjuangan, Mochtar Buchori,
dismissed such a move would happen to his party.

He said PNBK was simply too old fashioned and its presence was
more an urban phenomenon with little or no support among the
grassroots levels.

Political analyst Syamsuddin Harris of the National Institute
of Sciences (LIPI) agreed, saying the reference to Soekarno might
be appealing yet outdated.

"I am afraid the people behind these parties use them as a
vehicle to climb the ladder of power," Syamsuddin said.

He added that many still believed the shortcut for a party to
raise to power was by having a strong figure standing behind it.

This is true because people know voters here care more about
the person than the ideas behind a party, he said.

Analysts have said because of a lack of political education,
few voters showed interest in a party's vision and programs.

Instead, they said, parties were chosen based more on
primordial sentiments with the help of a prominent figure who
could lead.

Consequently, 50 years after the country's first general
election in 1955, parties continue to polarize along the lines of
nationalism and religion.

Today the two groups were divided each into traditionalists
and modernists as well, Syamsuddin said.

Existing parties however are not been much different from
their newer peers. PDI Perjuangan enjoys broad support which many
say comes mainly from the fact that chairwoman Megawati
Soekarnoputri was the symbol of oppression during the Soeharto
regime.

Her father, Soekarno, was also Indonesia's first president
whose legacy continues to wield powerful influence among the
people three decades after his death.

Another example is the Golkar Party, which attributes its
political clout to its close ties with former president Soeharto.
He never led the party, but was a member of its board of patrons.

Newer parties like the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the
National Awakening Party (PKB) trace their success to their links
with the country's two largest Muslim organizations and their
leaders.

According to Syamsuddin, this trend will take at least another
two to three more elections, or 15 years, before there were
enough critical voters for more sophisticated parties to emerge.
"What we're seeing here is a phase in democracy."