Mega presses ahead with reelection bid

Mega presses ahead with reelection bid

M. Taufiqurrahman and Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Semarang

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) needs to pave
the way for new faces to rule the party if it wants to thrive in
the future, an analyst says.

Senior analyst at the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI)
Sjaiful Mujani said on Thursday it was difficult to grasp that at
a time when the general public was longing for a sweeping change,
PDI-P members were impervious to the tendency and wanted to
maintain the status quo in the party under the current leadership
of Megawati Soekarnoputri.

"Megawati's failure to win the presidential race could serve
as a wake-up call for PDI-P members that they should ponder other
possibilities. Otherwise the party will be stagnant," Sjaiful
said.

Sjaiful was speaking in response to a survey published by a
little-known research center, the Data, Research and
Communication Strategy (Rekode), which said that although the
majority of PDI-P members deemed their party had performed
poorly, the incumbent leader was not to blame for the slump.

Rekode found that of 1,200 respondents in 11 provinces, 40
percent said the PDI-P had failed to perform in the 2004
legislative election and only 34 percent stated otherwise.
However, when asked about the performance of Megawati, 93 percent
of the respondents said they were satisfied with her leadership.

The survey was conducted ahead of the party's congress in Bali
from March 28 to April 2.

Sjaiful found such a discrepancy hard to comprehend as the
party leadership would contribute a lot to and be responsible for
the party's performance.

"It is difficult to believe that a leader is not to blame for
their party's failure. I call this (view) the product of a highly
active imagination," he said.

In late January, a group of PDI-P members founded a movement
aimed at ending Megawati's leadership of the PDI-P and replacing
her with a new figure -- her younger brother, Guruh
Soekarnoputra, being among names mentioned.

Spearheaded by businessman-cum-politician Arifin Panigoro, the
movement also sought to diminish Megawati's prerogatives over the
party.

Despite the calls for her withdrawal from the race, Megawati
said she would press ahead with her bid for a third successive
five-year mandate.

Speaking in Semarang, Megawati said the majority of PDI-P
constituents were behind her.

"As a matter of fact, I once told my husband that I would
retire after the 2004 general election. But, after watching
closely the internal rift within the PDI-P and looking at the
current political developments, I don't have the heart to drop my
candidacy," she told party members who had gathered for a special
meeting.

She doubted that other candidates who joined the race had the
grassroots support she did.

Megawati also said she had spoken with Guruh and advised him
to think twice before contesting against her. "I suggested that
he should only engage himself in arts and culture," she said.

Guruh is one of the country's prominent choreographers and
song writers.