MKGR breaks ranks with Golkar

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar, the political grouping that has dominated Indonesian politics since the early 1970s, is showing signs of unraveling since two of its strongest allies have indicated their intent to break away.

Musyawarah Kekeluargaan dan Gotong Royong (MKGR), a group that helped form Golkar, declared itself a new, separate party from the political organization in a media briefing yesterday. MKGR chairwoman Mien Sugandhi hinted that many individual members of Golkar-affiliated organizations had long felt restricted in their aspirations.

Kosgoro, the business wing of Golkar, indicated Monday it was studying the possibility of turning into an independent political party.

The third major group in Golkar is SOKSI, chaired by Suhardiman.

"We establish the MKGR Party in order to anticipate (changes brought) by the reform campaign, and the (planned) establishment of new laws on political parties," Mien told reporters.

"This party is founding itself on the state ideology of Pancasila and is open to anyone who wishes to join," she said. She added the decision to turn MKGR into a party was made with the support of its members, which she claimed numbered 25 million in 27 chapters nationwide.

Mien, former state minister of women's roles in the sixth development cabinet, said the organization had started working on a draft for the party's statutes.

She dismissed allegations that she and her colleagues meant to deflate Golkar at a time when the winds of change were blowing across the country.

Golkar's chief patron is former president Soeharto, and it lists high-ranking officials as patrons and advisors. For more than two decades, Golkar had been the political machinery for Soeharto's New Order administration, winning all general elections in order to ensure that he stayed in power.

Only one year ago, Golkar won the general election with an overwhelming majority under the guidance of now Speaker of the House of Representatives Harmoko.

Harmoko is still the chairman of the political grouping.

Mien said: "The MKGR party is meant to provide room for the poor and middle-class to channel their aspirations."

"From now on, the aspirations of MKGR members will be channeled through the new MKGR party, not Golkar anymore," she added.

Mien, however, insisted that MKGR was never an ally of Golkar, although it was true that its members had always "channeled their political aspirations" through the dominant political organization.

Laws

Meanwhile, the new government under President B.J. Habibie, attempting to show its commitment to reform, has promised to amend the five political laws long criticized as having curtailed public participation in politics.

One of the laws, for instance, stipulates only three contestants in the general election, namely Golkar, the Moslem- based United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

Some groups have seized on the momentum of reform and have declared their intent to set up their own political parties, regardless that the existing laws are still in effect.

On Monday, for instance, a group of labor activists established the Indonesian Workers Party (PPI). Some prominent groups, such as the 30-million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama Moslem organization, have received calls urging them to declare their own parties.

NU chairman Abdurrahman Wahid, in a retraction of an earlier statement, said he would not object if NU chapters or branches called for the organization to set up a political party.

Abdurrahman, quoted by Antara, said the executive board would study such a proposal, if there were any. "What's certain is that we will not thwart... the aspirations of our members at the grassroots level," Abdurrahman was quoted as saying.

Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, also said NU was technically ready to become a political party. "We have the sources to set up a party as we did in the 1950s and the 1960s," he said.

Separately, Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid said yesterday people were free to establish their own political parties.

"We provide the freedom to the people to establish political parties. However, the validity of the existence of the parties will depend on the new law on political parties, the draft of which is still being prepared," he told reporters after a limited coordinative meeting on political affairs and security.

Separately, newly released government critic Sri Bintang Pamungkas said in Bandung, West Java, he would officially register his Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI) -- which so far has never been recognized -- with the Ministry of Home Affairs on June 1.

"We will consolidate our members in 16 party branches in a two-day congress on Friday and Saturday," he told reporters after addressing thousands of students at the private-run Bandung Islamic University and the state-run Bandung Institute of Technology.

There has also been speculation that Megawati Soekarnoputri, who was ousted from her post as the chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party in a government-backed breakaway congress in 1996, would establish her own party.

She has yet to announce any such plans.

Yesterday, however, she called on the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to convene an extraordinary session to ask for Soeharto's account for the economic crisis and alleged mismanagement of the state affairs.

"We have to stick to the 1945 Constitution that any 'immediate' presidential succession must be held before an extraordinary session of the Assembly," she said at her residence in Kebagusan subdistrict, Pasar Minggu, South Jakarta.

She cited the presidential succession from the late president Sukarno to Soeharto in 1967, which was held before an extraordinary session of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS). (imn/43)