Golkar must quickly transform itself or disappear: Analyst
JAKARTA (JP): Golkar must quickly transform itself or possibly face life in political oblivion after the government introduces a new law on political parties in the next few months.
Political analyst Ryaas Rasyid said the ruling political organization should immediately transform its political foundation from a coalition of social and business groups into a purely political party.
"Golkar, despite its claim to be a representation of various social and business groups, has obviously acted as a political party," Ryaas, the rector of the state-run Institute for Public Administration (IIP), told The Jakarta Post.
"And we will not recognize it as a representation of various social and business groups anymore," he said.
Speaking as the coordinator of a seven-member team responsible for preparing drafts for three political laws on political parties, general elections and the structure and position of the House of Representatives/People's Consultative Assembly, Ryaas suggested that Golkar immediately change its structure into a formal political party.
"It shouldn't be a problem for Golkar as it needs to change its name only since physically it is a political party already," he said.
Internally, Golkar is facing a serious threat of disintegration, especially after one of its traditional allies, the Musyawarah Kekeluargaan Gotong Royong (MKGR), broke ranks from Golkar and turned itself a separate political party late last month.
Golkar's business wing Kosgoro, though still loyal to Golkar, is apparently taking a wait-and-see approach to the latest developments in the political situation. However it has indicated a desire to also go it alone as a political party.
In response to the snowballing reform movement, several political parties have been established lately, among them the Indonesian Women's Party (PP), the Indonesian Workers Party (PPI) and the Chinese-Indonesians Reform Party (Parti).
For nearly three decades the government has kept a tight reign on political activities and only recognizes Golkar, the United Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party.
However the newly established cabinet under President B.J. Habibie has opened the floodgates and is allowing the almost daily birth of new political organizations as people begin to look ahead to a free general election.
"People are free to establish political parties of their own," Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid said yesterday. "However, their legality will still rest on the new law on political parties which is now under preparation".
Ryaas believes that after a process of "natural screening", ideally there should be more than 10 political parties contending the election.
District
However Ryaas pointed out that the new electoral system would likely be a hybrid of the district system and the principles of the proportional representation system which the country currently applies.
"We still have to think of the parties which will fail the screening... We still have to accommodate those losing elements in our political system," he added.
He said that the team drafting the new law would divide the country's regions into 400 districts with each district equivalent to 200,000 voters.
"Therefore, we will have 400 legislators in the 500-seat House, elected through the district election system, while the remaining 100 seats will be decided through a combined proportional-district system," he said.
The team plans to complete its drafts for the three political laws before August, to allow the government time to publicize the drafts among the public in a bid to accommodate comments and inputs.
"However, we (team members) are confident that the three laws will be submitted to the government before the end of July," Ryaas told the Post.
"We meet three days a week, from Friday to Sunday, to complete the drafts," he said.
The team members, all with backgrounds in political sciences, are Afan Gaffar of the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada university, Ramlan Surbakti of the Surabaya-based Airlangga University, Alfian Malawange of the Ujungpandang-based Hasanuddin university in South Sulawesi, Johermansyah Johan and Lutfi of IIP and Anas Urbaningrum, chairman of the Indonesian Moslem Students Association and a postgraduate student at the University of Indonesia. (imn/byg)