Golkar in opposition?

In the midst of the recent agitation over the use by the House of Representatives right of interpellation -- which Golkar also supported -- the party's chairman Akbar Tanjung announced that Golkar was ready to go into opposition.

The word "ready" has given the public reason to sneer at the idea as it is perceived to reflect Golkar's forever-wavering character. Now it hesitates to go into opposition, yet it is also hesitant to stay in the Cabinet.

It is this inherent nature of Golkar that has prevented Gus Dur's (President Abdurrahman Wahid's) Cabinet from performing satisfactorily -- a failure which Akbar has strongly criticized. It is this character, too, that made Golkar willing to be used as the New Order's political vehicle for more than three decades.

Golkar needs to go through a period of attrition -- a period in which to say mea culpa to the Indonesian public. Without the courage to admit its errors of the past, Golkar will remain utterly vulnerable to the public's antipathy.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta