Guess What? Yuni Shara

Yuni Shara, the highly popular singer of golden oldies, is cutting connections with the ruling Golkar now when the party's popularity sinks amid the unrelenting public demand for reform.

The petite singer lamented that her fans mock her as "Golkar's artist" because she performed at its rallies during the 1997 election campaign.

Yuni is so bitter about the derision that she has vowed to stay clear of rallies of all political parties in the general election campaign to kick off in May.

"Never again," she told journalists when attending the annual conference of PT Supra Luxindo Utama in Yogyakarta on Tuesday. "Imagine how disgusting it is to be called a 'Golkar artist' only because I sang for Golkar supporters."

Yuni argued she was being professional when she accepted Golkar's contract offer and she was "not in a position to reject it".

"I swear it wasn't because I was a Golkar sympathizer," she said.

The native of Malang, East Java, demurred on relinquishing her signature style of polishing up old songs for modern audiences.

"It's OK as long as it's profitable and entertaining. People nowadays like buying old song cassettes because they are cheaper than new songs." (44)