MKGR breaks ranks with Golkar

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)