New Order attempts to regain political power

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.