Golkar's sins

Top functionaries of (the ruling party) Golkar assembled at Lembang, near Bandung, on Saturday, said the current reform tide had brought home to them the fact that they had not been doing things right. Thus the resolve was born among them that Golkar had to be totally reformed, and that it could no longer be a mere political engine to provide legitimacy for those in power while allowing itself to become alienated from the people due to corruption, collusion and nepotism in all kinds of spheres.

This is the first admission of culpability coming from Golkar since the organization was set up -- known initially as Sekber Golkar in the 1960s. In its heyday, Golkar dominated the Indonesian political scene without rival. This enabled it to attain single majority status in every national and regional legislature in the country -- a status which it has been able to maintain up to the present, even when it is regarded to be in a seriously impaired condition.

The "floating mass" concept has been one of the means employed by Golkar to ensure an absolute victory in each and every general election. While other sociopolitical organizations were prohibited from operating at the lowest levels of the community, civilian administrative and military officials on those levels were without exception Golkar functionaries.

It is a common secret that every neighborhood community leader was expected to meet a target of at least 10 Golkar votes during elections. We also should not be surprised at the fact that teachers or public servants could cast their votes twice -- once at their workplace and a second time in their own respective neighborhood. It is also no secret that in the past real victims could fall in simulated election drills if a civil servant failed to vote for Golkar. This led to discriminative practices in all fields of public life. For three decades, not a single member of another sociopolitical organization has occupied a government post. A string of other examples could be mentioned of ways to ensure a victory for the ruling party.

Golkar does indeed need to totally reform itself and abandon its old manipulative and deceptive ways. It must have the courage to admit its sins in order to keep itself from straying too far from the ideas and the vision that initially led to its creation if it is to continue to exist in the future.

-- Republika, Jakarta