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.