Golkar, PKB sign coalition accord

Golkar, PKB sign coalition accord

Moch. N. Kurniawan and Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta

The Golkar Party and the National Awakening Party (PKB) signed a
coalition agreement on Friday, but doubts remain if the alliance
would boost their candidates' chance of winning the July 5
presidential election.

The accord was signed by the chairmen of the two parties --
Akbar Tandjung of the Golkar Party and Alwi Shihab of PKB.

"This coalition will unite visions, missions, and programs in
the executive and the legislative branches and state institutions
at the national level," said the declaration, read out by actress
Nurul Arifin, who ran as a Golkar candidate in the April 5
legislative election, but did not gain a seat.

"We will unite actions to help Golkar's presidential and vice
presidential pairing Wiranto and Solahuddin Wahid, who are fully
supported by PKB, win the presidential election," the declaration
said.

The PKB decided to forge an alliance with Golkar after the
General Elections Commission (KPU) disqualified Abdurrahman "Gus
Dur" Wahid from the country's first direct presidential election
on July 5.

Golkar, which won 24 million votes in the April 5 legislative
election, has named rights campaigner Solahuddin Wahid as the
vice presidential candidate of Wiranto, who had been accused of
gross human rights violations in East Timor in 1999. PKB garnered
12 million votes in the same election.

Akbar said he was happy with the written agreement supporting
the Wiranto-Solahuddin pairing and that Gus Dur had also given
his written support.

Alwi, meanwhile, expressed the hope that the coalition would
result in long-lasting and solid cooperation.

However, just as Akbar and Alwi signed the accord, the
provincial chairman of PKB in Medan, North Sumatra said that the
coalition was not in line with the agreement reached in a
national working meeting.

Antara reported from Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) on
Friday that all regional and branch leaders of Nahdlatul Ulama
(NU) and leaders of 60 Islamic boarding schools (pesantren) in
the province had agreed to support the pairing of Megawati
Soekarnoputri and Hasyim Muzadi in the upcoming election.

Provincial NU chairman Syaiful Muslim said the agreement was
made during a meeting that ended on Thursday evening.

"The agreement to support the Megawati-Hasyim pairing is the
individual decision of each NU leader, but the leaders of the 60
pesantren represent their institutions," Syaiful said.

On Wednesday, 120 NU ulemas from Java and Sumatra also pledged
their support for Megawati and Hasyim.

Reports said earlier that virtually all NU leaders in East
Java, the stronghold of the country's largest Muslim country, had
also thrown their support behind the pair.

Almost 80 percent of the 12 million votes that PKB, which was
set up by NU leaders ahead of the 1999 general election, garnered
in the legislative election came from East Java.

Meanwhile, young PKB politician Bara Hasibuan tendered his
resignation on Friday due to disappointment over the party's
decision to support Wiranto.

"I consider the current election a critical time for this
country to nominate credible leadership, otherwise we will never
move forward.

"I do understand that the PKB has been in a difficult
situation after the KPU disqualified its main candidate, but I
don't think it should have to support Golkar's candidates," Bara
told The Jakarta Post

He also said that many PKB members were of the same opinion,
but did not divulge any names.

PKB had earlier nominated Gus Dur and Marwah Daud Ibrahim as
their candidates, but KPU disqualified Gus Dur due to his poor
eyesight. The party has not appointed a replacement, while Gus
Dur had vowed to stay out of the system.

"I wish that the PKB would support any other figure but
Wiranto... his past is such heavy baggage for the country," said
Bara, referring to allegations of rights abuses against the
retired four-star Army general.