New Order attempts to regain political power

Muhammad Qodari, Director of Research, Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), Jakarta, qodari@lsi.or.id

Watch out for the return of the New Order! The Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB) was established a year ago by former Army chief of staff R. Hartono and Soeharto's eldest daughter, Siti Hardijanti "Tutut" Rukamana, to restore the "glory" of the New Order regime in Indonesia.

During the campaign period, Hartono and Tutut have gotten even more and more explicit. Hartono even went so far as to declare himself an antek Soeharto (Soeharto loyalist).

The PKPB is perhaps the most serious political party to build an image strikingly different from other parties contesting the 2004 elections. Many parties sound the same in their rhetoric and even look alike in their symbols. There are, for example, seven political parties that claim to fight for the nationalist cause. Four of them make use of the bull as their party symbol. There are five parties with Islam as their ideology. Two of them share the Ka'bah as their party symbol.

The PKPB stands out from the "crowd" of political parties. While rival parties envision leading Indonesia to a better future, the PKPB promises to bring the country (back) to a better past. While other parties, especially the Golkar Party, the former political machine of the New Order regime, have tried hard to avoid any association with Soeharto, the PKPB openly declares its special ties with the despot and his family.

Declaring its close association with Soeharto and his family is the first systematic attempt by the PKPB to show the public that the party is the true inheritor of the New Order regime. Lt. Gen. (ret) R. Hartono has told the media several times that Soeharto gave his personal blessing to the establishment of the PKPB. The reason behind the blessing was Soeharto's disappointment with Golkar, which is now said to have been taken over by people unfaithful to New Order ideals.

The second systematic attempt by the PKPB to attract support from the Soeharto family as well as from those people who miss the New Order was to nominate Tutut, Soeharto's most charismatic daughter, as its presidential candidate.

Years ago, many believed that Tutut was indeed being prepared by Soeharto to be his successor. Tutut was the most politically active among Soeharto's children. She was one of the (old) Golkar's chairwomen and was the most influential minister in Soeharto's last Cabinet.

The PKPB resembles the Indonesian Army in some ways. At a glance, the PKPB logo looks like the Army's. The PKPB chose dark green as its color of identity. This is the third systematic attempt by the party to associate itself with Soeharto. Hartono himself is a retired Army general. Soeharto himself was a retired general with five -- not four -- stars, the so-called "great general". The Army was one of the three pillars of the old Golkar. These similarities to the Army might be an attempt by the party to associate itself in people's minds with security and political stability.

The fourth systematic attempt by the PKPB to establish an association with Soeharto and the New Order regime is a recent TV campaign by the party. The political ads show Hartono and Tutut persuading people to vote for party number 14, which is the PKPB. What is interesting is the big picture of a smiling Soeharto that looms behind the two. The ads also show ordinary people -- peasants, housewives, etc. -- giving "testimony" that their lives were better during the Soeharto era. They appeal for their fellow countrymen to vote for the PKPB for a return to a better life.

It is understandable why the PKPB would want to exploit Soeharto and the New Order regime in its campaign for the legislative election on April 5. The party must have read the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI)'s widely published national surveys in August and November 2003, which found that the majority of voters think the New Order system was better than the current one.

The party also senses the political mood of many Indonesians who are nostalgic for life under Soeharto. In the past year, the acronym "SARS" (Sindrom Amat Rindu Soeharto -- Longing for Soeharto Syndrome) has been widely used to show people's desperation with current conditions.

It is still uncertain whether the people's nostalgia for the New Order will translate into votes for the PKPB. There are at least several conditions that could prevent the PKPB from benefiting from the situation.

The first is that the people's nostalgia for the New Order is not necessarily the same thing as nostalgia for rule by Soeharto and his family. What people may want is not Soeharto or Tutut, but simply a return to political stability and high economic growth. They do not want Soeharto because he was an authoritarian ruler and his family and friends were corruptors. In other words, they want political stability and economic growth minus Soeharto and family.

The second is the lack of information voters have on the PKPB. The LSI surveys revealed that new political parties, even those led by popular figures, are known only by a minority of voters. In the LSI's November 2003 survey, the Democratic Party, which was established by the popular Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was known to only 40 percent of respondents. The Pioneers' Party (PPD), led by President Megawati Soekarnoputri's sister, Rachmawati, was familiar to only 17 percent of respondents.

The lack of recognition among voters is a serious disadvantage for the PKPB. Even though the PKPB systematically packages itself as the party that will lead Indonesia back to the "golden years" of the New Order, another party -- the Golkar Party -- is most likely to benefit from the people's disappointment with the current regime.

During the three decades of the New Order, Golkar was the official party of the regime. To Indonesians in general, it was Golkar that built bridges, dams, schools, etc. It was in the Golkar era that food was cheap, housing was affordable and education was accessible.

So when voters think that things were better during the New Order, they will not remember the PKPB but Golkar. The disadvantages faced by the PKPB can only be overcome if more and more people are able to learn about the party and its programs. This will require a massive media campaign, and so far the PKPB has been one of the most aggressive political parties in terms of its media campaign.

If this continues, the PKPB may become a serious threat to other parties. If the party wins a significant number of votes and becomes one of the largest parties on the political landscape, we may well announce that the New Order has returned -- and struck back.