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.