Golkar landslide victory a must: Amir Santoso
Golkar landslide victory a must: Amir Santoso
JAKARTA (JP): The dominant political group Golkar has to
maintain its majority in the upcoming general election to ensure
a strong government, an analyst said over the weekend.
Amir Santoso of the Jakarta-based University of Indonesia's
School of Social and Political Sciences said that a strong
government is needed as long as the development and poverty
eradication programs are underway.
He admitted that the decision to make economic development the
top priority had in some ways forced the government to disregard
democracy.
"It's difficult to have to choose between welfare and
democracy. But we have to help the majority of the country's
population enjoy prosperity first, rather than encourage
democracy which is only understood by a small number of wealthy
urbanites," Amir said.
"The problem is how to build a clean government whose
bureaucracy gives its best to serve the public," he said.
Golkar, under incumbent chairman Harmoko, has set its sights
on winning 70.02 percent of the vote in the upcoming polls in
order to extend its single majority to six in a row since 1971.
It will take on the United Development Party (PPP) and the
trouble-hit Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
Almost 125 million of the country's population of 200 million
are expected to go to the polling booths on May 29. A total of
425 seats at the House of Representatives are at stake in the
upcoming general election.
Golkar's search for single majority has become the target of
criticism by its minority rivals who have repeatedly complained
about irregularities in the previous elections.
The single majority has enabled Golkar to exclude its two
rivals from the cabinet since 1978.
Amir said that Indonesia should emulate development programs
run by its Southeast Asian neighbors, such as Singapore and
Malaysia, whose political systems are about the same as
Indonesia's.
"People in many countries that have harvested development
efforts do not ask too much for democratic freedom as long as
their governments can be trusted," he said.
He said the government would risk losing too much time, not to
mention the foreseeable conflicts, if it leaves people to pursue
freedom.
"We may need 400 years to be on par with the United States in
terms of income per capita. Because we want a shortcut en route
to the goals, we need a firm government to manage the
heterogeneous people," he said.
Indonesia's income per capita is estimated at US$1,200, with
economic growth estimated at between 7 percent and 8 percent a
year.
Amir said Indonesian bureaucracy has grown so strong that it
is immune from social control. "Bureaucracy tends to be
conservative and arrogant when it deals with the public to whom
it should have served," he said.
The bureaucracy also lacks quality human resources able to
accommodate people's rising demands.
People commonly complain about inefficiency, corruption and
political liability of the bureaucracy, he said.
Amir said that people's accumulated animosity against the
bureaucracy might trigger riots which have repeatedly hit the
country since last year. (amd)