Megawati's statesmanship could be put to the test

Megawati's statesmanship could be put to the test

Dwi Atmanta, The Jakarta Post, Denpasar

Megawati Soekarnoputri looks certain to have firmly secured her
reelection for a third five-year term, well before the second
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) congress opens on
Monday.

Most of the party's regional branches nominated her for the
top post during their respective regional convention, and will
likely put forward their wishes to the congress, the highest
decision-making forum of the party.

Regardless of the democratic process during the election, the
popular support for Megawati continues, in spite of the fact that
she failed to fulfill the party's mandate of winning the
legislative and presidential elections last year. Instead, PDI-P
under Megawati suffered a major setback.

If reelected, Megawati will enjoy the prerogative of selecting
the line-up of the party's central board, the power her
supporters say would protect the party from outside intervention.

PDI-P is still smarting from what has happened to the Golkar
Party, its main ally when the two major nationalist parties
joined forces to contest the presidency, with Megawati as the
presidential contender when the popularity of Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono was at its peak in the presidential election runoff
last September.

The Golkar congress then accepted the accountability report of
its leader Akbar Tandjung on the grounds that he managed to help
the party finish first in the legislative election. But many
party members blamed him for the party's joining forces with PDI-
P in the presidential election runoff, which Susilo won by a
landslide.

Akbar's defeat to Vice President Jusuf Kalla was a punishment
for the seasoned politician for putting popular wishes behind his
personal judgment, given the fact that Akbar had helped Golkar
survive the toughest test ever since the fall of the New Order
regime in 1998. Golkar's decision to join forces with a power
holder was reasonable as the party was looking ahead to prevail
in the regional elections and the 2009 legislative and
presidential elections.

While Akbar could still be credited with helping the party
prevail in the legislative elections, Megawati has arrived at the
congress empty handed. She could blame outsiders for PDI-P slump,
but the last elections were solid proof that she and her party no
longer are the darlings of the crowd.

Surveys conducted before the two elections last year should
have served as a warning as they revealed that most of the would-
be swing voters were those who voted for PDI-P in the 1999 polls.
The message at that time was clear: many PDI-P supporters were
disappointed with Megawati for ignoring their voices.

Megawati's endorsement of Sutiyoso's nomination as Jakarta
governor was just one of many decisions that hurt PDI-P grassroot
supporters who could not forget the role of the former Jakarta
military commander during the July 27, 1996 bloodshed. To some
extent the coalition with Golkar was equally painful for
Megawati's supporters, considering the fact that the party was
part of the repressive regime that once tried to depose her.

So, how will Megawati be able to defend her actions before the
congress to win another mandate? Many believe PDI-P needs the
charisma of Megawati, the daughter of founding father Sukarno and
founder of the Indonesian Nationalist Party, to which PDI-P owes
its origin.

The elections last year were a learning ground for Indonesians
to choose their leaders not because of the party they belong to
or what they subscribe to but for what they have achieved. The
General Elections Commission had campaigned, albeit less
intensively, for the use of common sense in the polls.

Therefore, the acceptance of Megawati's accountability report
and her reelection will be seen as anachronism, now that
Indonesia is marching toward a full-fledged democracy that
rejects blind loyalty.

Megawati's reelection in the congress is expected to thrust
her back as a contender in the 2009 elections, which is quite an
unusual practice in other democracies. The Democrat Party in the
United States, for example, picked John Kerry to fight George W.
Bush last year over Al Gore who lost in the previous presidential
election.

Abdurrahman Wahid could be an exception. The former president
insisted on contesting the election last year as he was resisting
discrimination against him.

It is now a critical period for both PDI-P and Megawati
herself. The party needs changes, which may not necessarily come
from the party faction who claim to be reformists but from all
party supporters who believe democracy is the best proven
political system in the world.

Democracy means not only tolerance for differences, but also
acceptance of defeat or failure. There is a good practice in
other countries, where a leader resigns as a show of
responsibility for his or her mistakes.

The congress will also put Megawati's statesmanship to the
test. The exodus of millions of PDI-P supporters last year was a
crystal clear indication of their disappointment with her
leadership. The party's slump may continue if popular distrust
persists.

Prosperous Justice Party figure Hidayat Nur Wahid set the
trend, although uncommon, when he resigned as party leader after
his election as speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly,
despite the fact that he had every reason to keep the party's top
post.

The author is the staff writer of The Jakarta Post.