Golkar Party is on the way to return to power
Golkar Party is on the way to return to power
Ardimas Sasdi, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta,
ardimas@thejakartapost.com
The Golkar Party is still the most solid among the large
political parties and one step away from a return to power in the
next general election.
Indeed, it has the second-most number of seats in the House of
Representatives (DPR) with 120, and its existence today defies
predictions that it would collapse after a major exodus of its
members before and after the downfall of its patron, former
president Soeharto, in 1998.
The party also is likely to survive an internal rift following
a guilty verdict against chairman Akbar Tandjung in a Rp 40
billion (US$8 million) scandal at the State Logistics Agency
(Bulog). The misappropriated money reportedly was used by Akbar
to bankroll Golkar's election campaign in 1999. Akbar is
appealing the verdict.
The former ruling party has even able to continue
strengthening its power base.
The Nov. 29, 2002, election of party members Amin Syam and
Syahrul Yasin as governor and deputy governor of South Sulawesi
for the 2003-2008 term is the party's latest achievement in
restoring its power.
Amin, a retired Army brigadier general, is chairman of the
Golkar Party's South Sulawesi chapter, while Syahrul is the Gowa
regent and a party member from the ranks of the bureaucracy. The
duo defeated Nurdin Halid and running mate Iskandar Mandji, who
reportedly were supported by the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) headed by President Megawati
Soekarnoputri, as well as Aksa Mahmud and running mate Malik
Hambali. The pair will replace outgoing governor Z.B. Palaguna, a
retired three-star Army general whose second term of office ends
in January 2003.
Amin and Syahrul were not the only Golkar members elected
governor, regent or mayor over the past four years. These include
businessman Fadel Muhammad (Minahasa governor), Zainal Bakar
(West Sumatra governor), Zulkifli Nurdin (Jambi governor), Saleh
Djasit (Riau governor) and Abdullah Puteh (Aceh governor), to
name but a few.
Golkar executives also have seized regent, mayoral and head of
provincial legislative assembly posts in the country's 30
provinces. Other key posts in provinces and regencies are held by
military officers, another political engine of the demised New
Order regime. The only regent from Megawati's PDI Perjuangan is
Endang Setyaningdyah of Demak, Central Java.
"Practically, there is no difference between the current
administration and the New Order in terms of the composition of
power," Brig. Gen. (ret) Faisal B. said.
Golkar's success is attributable to two factors: It remains
the most solid party and is the richest in human resources.
Further, other parties led by reformists are embroiled in serious
internal conflicts.
Megawati's PDI Perjuangan split into PDI Perjuangan, PDI
Perjuangan Rakyat, the Nationalist Bung Karno Party (PNBK) and
the Indonesian Motherland Party (PITA).
A reliable source said the current leadership of PDI
Perjuangan has split into at least three camps, with one believed
to have split with Megawati because of the party's failure to
fight for the poor majority.
Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid's National Awakening Party (PKB)
broke into PKB Batutulis headed by Minister of Defense Matori
Abdul Djalil and PKB Kuningan chaired by Alwi Shihab, a
confidante of former president Gus Dur, while Vice President
Hamzah Haz's United Development Party (PPP) split into PPP and
the United Development Party of Reform.
Amien Rais' National Mandate Party (PAN) earlier split with
the exodus of outspoken, reform-minded executives like economist
Faisal Basri and politician Bara Hasibuan.
Realizing the party was in a precarious state after Soeharto's
downfall, Golkar leaders quickly took strategic and tactical
steps to prevent the party from a political fallout. The party
enhanced solidarity among its leaders, built a new image by
shifting its paradigm from that of a ruling party to a promoter
of reform and democratization, and changed its name from Golkar
(Functional Group) to the Golkar Party, meaning that since that
time Golkar has been a political party in the pure sense.
These steps took place after its 1999 extraordinary congress,
which elected former student leader Akbar as its chairman in the
first democratic election in the party's more than three-decade
history. Akbar defeated Edy Sudradjat, a retired four-star Army
general and former minister of defense, who left Golkar after the
election defeat and established the Party of Justice and Unity
(PKP).
The party also distanced itself from the New Order which it
created, by dropping the words "New Order" from the opening of
its statute and dissolving the powerful board of patrons that
Akbar said was modeled after a primitive political system.
The monolithic political culture and centralized system of
power that rested on Soeharto's personality led to power abuses,
because the system did not have a system of checks and balances.
The Golkar Party has also been accommodating of sensitive
issues, endearing it to other parties in the legislature.
"The program paid off," then head of the Golkar Party faction
at the House, Syamsul Mua'rif (now state minister of
communications and information), once told this writer. "We have
been fully accepted by colleagues from other parties in the
House."