Golkar vote may be at risk in S. Sulawesi

Golkar vote may be at risk in S. Sulawesi

Andi Hajramurni, The Jakarta Post,Makassar, South Sulawesi

South Sulawesi has for decades a Golkar haven in terms of
garnering votes, consistently gaining well over 50 percent of the
vote. The party can count on its loyalists here to win both the
general election and the presidency -- as long as the party
leadership heeds the tendency toward pragmatism and the ethnic
sentiments of its supporters.

Golkar's conviction that it can still win the hearts of most
of South Sulawesi's five million eligible voters is largely based
on the view that it is only Golkar which has delivered on its
promises -- even though others may say it has never had real
competition.

But sources say Golkar may not win if chairman Akbar Tandjung
is named the party's presidential candidate.

A number of regency offices of the Golkar Party, a provincial
executive of the party said, "have said they would not support
Akbar Tandjung in his bid for the presidency".

The executive, who declined to be named, confirmed assessments
here that the party might even lose many potential votes if Akbar
was named Golkar's presidential candidate.

Golkar loyalists are also proud of locals who have made it to
the top. And a leading son of the province, former president B.J.
Habibie, is perceived to have been betrayed by Akbar.

This is a main reason for locals' distancing themselves from
Golkar apart from the fact that Akbar was charged with
misappropriating Rp 40 billion in state funds, though he has been
acquitted by the Supreme Court.

The speaker of the legislature is also perceived to have
stepped on the toes of fellow contenders in Golkar's convention,
particularly a leading woman from South Sulawesi, Marwah Daud.

But it was Habibie who raised the province to national
stature. As former president Soeharto's closest aide, he
succeeded the latter as the country's first non-Javanese
president from East Indonesia, where people felt marginalized
under a government that had gobbled up a larger part of the
benefits from their natural resources.

The former Golkar patron also played a crucial role in
bringing Islam to the center of the political arena.

Earlier this month supporters of the provincial branch of the
Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) began a movement to
collect a million signatures to support Habibie for the
presidency.

Golkar's main contenders are the Muslim-oriented parties in
the predominantly Muslim province. The new United Democratic
Nationhood Party (PPDK) also has potential -- it champions
regional autonomy and its founders are other natives of South
Sulawesi -- former minister of regional autonomy Ryaas Rasyid and
political scholar Andi Alifian Mallarangeng.

But apart from the Akbar and Habibie factor, Golkar plays the
cultural card well, drawing loyalty through the local party elite
who are nobility.

So while everyone else heaped criticism on Golkar the day
Soeharto ended his 32-year rule, in South Sulawesi the party
still won 66.5 percent of the vote in 1999, though a significant
drop from the 90 percent it gained in the 1997 polls.

The party will gain immensely from the direct system of voting
given the large number of old-timers among its 28 legislative
candidates from South Sulawesi.

Golkar would have much more potential in South Sulawesi if
Jusuf Kalla, another leading native and coordinating minister for
people's welfare, is named its presidential candidate.

Otherwise, votes from the province might drift to another
rival party courting Jusuf -- which at this stage may be the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).