Golkar remains a potent political force

Golkar remains a potent political force

The following is the first of two articles on presidential
candidacy prepared by Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, acting head of the
Division for International and Regional Affairs at the Center for
Political and Regional Studies, the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences (LIPI), Jakarta.

JAKARTA (JP): Although the preliminary results of the June 7
general election are showing Golkar party will be in second
place, it seems some of its leaders are not yet ready to accept
that Golkar will become an opposition party.

A week after the elections, Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung
said he was prepared to concede defeat and congratulate the
chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), Megawati Soekarnoputri, as the winner. However, the
chairwoman of the leading party will not necessarily be elected
as Indonesia's fourth president.

It is interesting to note that on one hand Golkar has tried to
approach PDI Perjuangan to form a coalition of nationalist
parties, as well as Islamic parties at the same time, while
exploiting Islamic sentiments saying that Golkar's presidential
candidate, the incumbent president B.J. Habibie, is a good son of
the nation and a Muslim.

There are still so many hurdles for Megawati to overcome in
order to be elected as the next president. Some Golkar members,
leaders of the United Development Party (PPP) and the Association
of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI), have been campaigning
in tandem that the next president must be a Muslim and male.

This campaign was done to degrade Megawati as the potential
presidential candidate. Apart from that, there was also some
propaganda from Islamic leaders that if Megawati's PDI Perjuangan
wins the elections, it will endanger the Muslims' interests since
most of the party's parliamentary candidates are non-Muslim.

In fact, according to PDI Perjuangan secretary-general Alex
Litaay, most of the party's candidates are actually Muslim. The
latest statement from the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), states
that some ulemas and Islamic leaders in North Jakarta who were
campaigning against PDI Perjuangan during the campaign period
were abducted by people wearing uniforms of the party's civilian
guards.

Megawati and PDI Perjuangan have never been free from
difficulties created by New Order leaders and followers. The use
of gender and religious sentiments toward Megawati and PDI
Perjuangan is actually an effort to stop her from becoming the
next president.

In other words, by using gender and religious sentiments, the
supporters of the old New Order government have been trying to
divert the issue from a reform movement against the status quo
forces to a religious issue. However, some modernist and
traditional Islamic leaders and the Indonesian Islamic Student
Union (PMII) were of the opinion that there is no ban in Islam to
have a woman as president. In fact, a president is not the same
as an imam (Muslim prayer leader). A man and a woman, therefore,
have the same rights to become a president.

There was also an opinion among young Muslim scholars who
question the Islamic community, because there are so many Muslim
communities in so many Islamic and nationalist parties, including
PDI Perjuangan. So that, one cannot say that only Islamic parties
and Golkar can represent the interests of the Islamic community,
just because Habibie and chairmen of other Islamic Parties are
Muslims and males.

The approach from Golkar toward nationalist and Islamic
parties shows that Golkar still wants its personnel to be in the
Cabinet, either as senior or junior partners.

The use of nationalist and Islamic symbols are the only ways
Golkar can approach PDI Perjuangan and Islamic parties.

On the one hand, in approaching PDI Perjuangan and other
nationalist parties, Golkar leaders said it is for the benefit of
the country to have political stability and the continuation of
national development. On the other hand, when approaching Islamic
parties, Golkar leaders and followers said its presidential
candidate, Habibie, is a good son of the nation and a Muslim.
Muslim interests could be fulfilled if Habibie was President.

However, we learned from the New Order government that during
1966 to 1990, the government implemented Islamic phobia. There
were so many examples about it, such as the Tanjung Priok
shooting incident in Jakarta in 1984 and the accusation of
Islamic fundamentalism in Lampung, Jakarta and other cities, and
so forth. Former president Soeharto's government tried only to
approach the Islamic community by establishing the Association of
Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) in 1990 under the
chairmanship of Habibie. Its establishment was actually aimed to
balance Soeharto's supporters between the military and Muslims.

Since he took over power from Soeharto on May 21, 1998,
Habibie has been trying to show to the people that he is a true
democratic man.

He allowed, for example, the freedom of the press, which was
actually done by Minister of Information Lt. Gen. (ret.) Mohammad
Junus, freedom of expression, although his government issued Law
No. 9/1999 which limits mass demonstrations, freedom of mass
political organization, which allows the establishment of new
political parties and other non-governmental organizations, and
also free and fair general elections because of pressure from
people.

He also offered two options for the East Timorese to choose:
either accepting special autonomy status or independence from
Indonesia. However, during the short period of his presidency, so
much religious and ethnic-oriented violence has happened in
Indonesia, such as in Ketapang (Jakarta), Kupang (East Nusa
Tenggara), Ambon (Maluku), Sambas (West Kalimantan) and so forth.

His government also cannot stop the ethnonationalist movement
in Aceh through peaceful means, as he promised to the Acehnese in
Aceh and Jakarta. Although the military stated that it has
stopped special military operations in Aceh since August 1998,
mass killing and torture are still going on there. The question
is, how can Habibie maintain Indonesian unity and pluralism in
the near future? And which Islamic community can benefit from
Habibie's presidency?