Golkar tests water with presidential nominees: Expert

Golkar tests water with presidential nominees: Expert

Berni K. Moestafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Golkar's announcement of five nominees for the 2004 presidential
election could be an effort to test voters' reaction while the
country's second largest party was still grappling with the New
Order stigma and leadership issues, an analyst said on Sunday.

Golkar disclosed last week that Coordinating Minister for
Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono,
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, Minister
of Transportation Agum Gumelar, Yogyakarta Governor Sultan
Hamengkubuwono X and former Indonesian Military chief Gen. (ret)
Gen. Wiranto could be its presidential candidate. They will
finally select just one.

Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung was conspicuously missing from
the list, quite possibly because of his corruption conviction
last year.

Nominating popular candidates is now more crucial than ever as
the country will hold its first direct presidential election next
year.

Analysts however differ on the chances of Golkar's five
nominees in the upcoming race for the presidency.

"None of them look like they have the right qualities," said
political analyst Ikrar Nusa Bhakti of the Indonesian Institute
of Sciences (LIPI).

Golkar, he said, made a mistake by naming figures that had
strong ties to the party even though they appeared non-partisan.

Despite garnering the second highest number of votes in the
1999 election, Golkar continues to wrestle with its troubled
past. The party was for 30 years the political vehicle of
disgraced president Soeharto and his authoritarian New Order
regime.

Except for Jusuf, the four other candidates are not current
members of Golkar. Susilo, Agum and Wiranto however are former
senior officers in the military, which was one of New Order's
power bases along with Golkar and the bureaucracy.

Wiranto's nomination is especially risky due to his alleged
role in the East Timor atrocities in 1999.

While Hamengkubuwono X may be a popular reformist now, he once
was a Golkar executive in Yogyakarta. Analysts have also said he
lacks voter support outside of Java.

"I'd say Golkar is just testing the public reaction," Ikrar
said.

Akbar's conspicuous absence already signals an attempt to
separate the party from its embattled chairman in the
presidential race.

The Jakarta High Court upheld his guilty verdict for
corruption for which he was sentenced to three years in prison by
the Central Jakarta District Court. Akbar has been publicly
criticized for his refusal to resign as Golkar chairman and for
not going to jail. The public and many fellow lawmakers are quite
upset that he also remains the House of Representatives Speaker,
pending another appeal to the Supreme Court.

Golkar's list of nominees had a "relatively" cleaner
background, said analyst Riswandha Imawan from Gadjah Mada
University in Yogyakarta.

"Apparently Golkar wants to improve its image, and this, it
hopes to do as soon as possible," he said, adding that it was odd
that a presidential candidate would not be the party chairman.

In that context, Golkar's five nominees marks a breakthrough.
It showed the party was forward looking, Riswandha said.

But given Akbar's tainted image, Golkar may not have much of a
choice. In fact, by ditching him, the party actually aims to
retain his chairmanship to beyond 2004, he said.

Akbar played a vital role in helping Golkar win a surprisingly
large slice of voters in 1999, just a year after the New Order
collapsed. Now he needs to lower his profile.

"Golkar is trying to divert the public's attention from Akbar
through the nominees," Riswandha said.

He added that other parties would most likely share some of
the nominees, and this could boost Golkar's chances of getting
its man to secure the presidency.

University of Indonesia political analyst Maswadi Rauf voiced
doubt that the five nominees represented Golkar's final list.

"In a political party the priority should have been given to
its cadres, I don't see this happening here," he said, referring
to the candidates.