Ismail Hasan not above being corrected

Ismail Hasan not above being corrected

By Santi WE Soekanto

JAKARTA (JP): "If I am right, follow me. Whenever I am wrong,
correct me," Ismail Hasan Metareum said five years ago when he
was first elected chairman of the United Development Party (PPP).

He was quoting a famous saying by the first Caliph, Abu Bakar
Asshiddiq, when the friend of Prophet Muhammad took up the Moslem
leadership following the Prophet's death 14 centuries ago.

It is told that at that time, another friend of the Prophet,
Umar bin Khattab, who succeeded Abu Bakar, declared boldly, "When
you go astray, I will personally straighten you up with my
sword."

Ismail Hasan might not be lucky enough to have such an honest
friend as Umar bin Khattab, but he apparently is considered
"right" enough to merit another term at the helm of the Moslem-
based party.

When the third congress of PPP concluded on Thursday with his
re-election, Ismail Hasan did not attempt to make the same offer
for people to correct him in his leadership. Instead, he repeated
the same promise he made five years ago that he will not punish
those who opposed or even "rebelled" against him.

"I will not recall (from the House of Representatives: DPR)
any activists of PPP (who opposed me)," he said five years ago.
"I want to create a calm, peaceful and serene situation within
the party."

This time, he also vowed that he will not shove away those who
in recent months have become his "foes" and fought hard to oust
him.

"I will not recall any of them, they can continue their work
within the party peacefully," he said on Thursday, in reference
to his former secretary-general Matori Abdul Djalil, junior
colleague Sri Bintang Pamungkas and several other figures.

Despite wide criticism of his style of leadership during the
past five years, Ismail Hasan is resolute that he will maintain
his low-profile and "calm" approach to the party's management.

Preference

Many younger people might prefer the "explosive" style of Sri
Bintang Pamungkas, and the ulemas of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU)
faction might favor Matori Abdul Djalil's agreeable style, but
the re-election of Ismail Hasan says a lot for his preference for
a "calm" leadership.

Over the last five years, he never displayed any emotional
outburst, even when criticism came hard and fast against his
effectiveness as a leader.

In the last general election in 1992, Ismail Hasan was branded
ineffective because he was only able to increase the party's vote
by one percent. Consequently, PPP got only one additional seat in
the House of Representatives, up from the previous 61 seats,
which was a far cry from his 1987 vow that he would increase
PPP's portion in the parliament to 100 seats.

In 1992, PPP obtained 17 percent of the vote, coming a far
second behind the ruling functional group Golkar which won 68
percent. The third party, the populist Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI) took 15 percent of the vote. In the previous
elections in 1987, PPP reaped 16 percent of the vote, Golkar 73
percent and PDI 11 percent.

A native of Aceh, Ismail Hasan is the fourth of six children
in the family of Teungku Hasan. Some years ago, the 65-year old
man added "Metareum" to his name in order not to be confused with
a colleague with the same name.

Ismail Hasan's quotation of the Caliph's saying upon his
election in 1989 was not out of character. In Aceh, a "teungku"
is a Moslem leader and gets the same respect as the "kyai" in
Javanese Moslem culture.

Ismail Hasan received his early religious training in
Metareum, the small village where he was born some eight
kilometers from Sigli, the capital of Sigli Aceh Pidie regency.

After finishing high school in Jakarta in 1952, he went to the
Law School at the University of Indonesia and joined the
influential Moslem students organization, HMI.

Between 1955 and 1957, he became deputy chairman of HMI. He
spent three years as chairman of the organization.

It was during this time that Ismail Hasan had the chance to
really stand out among his peers. He led HMI in stating
disagreement over the plan of the first president, Sukarno, to
dissolve the House of Representatives and replace it with another
legislative body to be manned by people he personally hand-
picked.

Ismail said at that time that Sukarno's plan violated the
Constitution and would open the House's door to elements of the
now outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). When Sukarno asked
HMI to send three members to be seated at the House, Ismail Hasan
refused.

Ismail Hasan married Maryani in 1961 and now has five
children.

Ismail Hasan, who is usually called Buya (father), joined the
Partai Muslimin Indonesia (Parmusi) before the 1971 general
elections, and was subsequently posted to the House of
Representatives (DPR).

In late 1972 and early 1973, Parmusi merged with three other
Moslem organizations (Syarikat Islam, Nahdlatul Ulama and Perti)
to form the United Development Party (PPP). Since then, Ismail
Hasan's name has been closely linked with the party.

In 1989, he replaced the flamboyant Jaelani Naro, who led the
party since the 1970s, despite never having announced his
intention to run for chairmanship.

"It's fate, something which I never expected," he said after
his election in 1989, adding that he had actually been
"struggling" to put another PPP leader, Hartono Mardjono, at the
helm, when the second PPP congress suddenly changed course and
his name began circulating among members of the electoral board.

Military

Ismail Hasan has always been known for his close relations
with military circles. He was a student soldier in Aceh during
the revolutionary years of the 1940s.

In the 1970s, Ismail Hasan taught at his alma mater. In 1981,
after then minister of education Daoed Joesoef prohibited staff
lecturers at state universities from getting involved in
politics, he left the University of Indonesia, and started
teaching at the Tarumanagara private university. He was later
appointed dean of the law school there.

Early this year, Ismail Hasan said he wanted the party's third
congress, which concluded Thursday, to proceed as democratically
as possible.

There are people, like Bintang and Matori, who think that the
just concluded congress of the party was not democratic.

However, Ismail used his acceptance speech to hammer home his
conviction that "all is well that ends well" and that the
congress had heeded the principles of democracy.

"This congress proceeded better than the previous congresses,"
he said. "We should be thankful that we did not encounter any
obstacles in carrying out this event."