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."