Golkar must quickly transform itself or disappear: Analyst
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)