Nurcholish Madjid, Dita Sari and the 2004 elections

Max Lane, Visiting Fellow, Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS), University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia

The 2004 election campaign has started. There are two kinds of issues that people seem to be looking at. The first relate to the so-called major parties, those with substantial numbers in the House of Representatives. These are the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Golkar Party, the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB). Because the chairman of the tiny National Mandate Party (PAN), Amien Rais, is also the chairman of the People's Consultative Assembly, sometimes PAN is also considered a major party.

The second group of issues are those that relate to initiatives that appeal to the broad anti-elite sentiment in society. The most reported such initiative is that of Nurcholish Madjid who has been "campaigning" to be nominated as a presidential candidate. Nurcholish has no large political organization and no significant history as a politician.

It is precisely these "qualifications" that have made it possible for him to be considered, by some at least, a serious candidate. Nurcholish, who is also warmly referred to as Cak Nur (elder brother Nur) in the press, is more well-known as an intellectual and academic. He is seen as a "clean" figure outside the political elite.

Being seen as outside the political elite is what constitutes his basic appeal in a period when all polls and opinion on the street are vehemently hostile to this elite. The problem for Nurcholish is that he stands only very partially outside the elite, if it all.

It was Nurcholish who offered to head up a Reform Committee to be established by the former dictator Soeharto in the last weeks of the dictatorship in 1998. This was offered as a means to facilitate a smoother transition to some new system, with Soeharto still presiding. This proposal was rejected by the student and mass movements and Soeharto was forced to resign.

More recently, Nurcholish's ties to the political elite have been manifested in his announcement that he would seek the nomination as presidential candidate from the most elitist of all parties, Golkar. Golkar was founded and controlled by Soeharto for most of his dictatorship. It was the only party from which Soeharto drew Cabinet ministers. The New Order dictatorship was essentially a Soeharto-Golkar dictatorship. Nurcholish had openly announced his plan to seek Golkar's nomination, although he canceled the plan on Wednesday.

Interestingly, former president Abdurrahman Wahid seems to be keeping another option open. Last week he also attended a congress organized by the Banteng National Awakening Party (PNBK), led by Eros Jarot. He was given a warm welcome at the congress, attended by thousands of members. Jarot invited him up onto the stage where Nurcholish said he would be happy to be adopted "in some way or another" by the PNBK.

Jarot flattered him with the comment that surely Cak Nur would not lower himself to compete with a convicted criminal -- referring to Golkar chairman, Akbar Tandjung, who has been convicted of corruption by a Jakarta court, and now is in the process of appealing the conviction to the Supreme Court.

Nurcholish's campaign contrasts with that recently initiated by labor leader Dita Sari. Last weekend, Dita chaired a meeting of about 300 representatives of over 50 organizations who formed a new political party: The Party of United People's Opposition (Popor).

Popor's campaign only shares one similarity with that of Nurcholish's: It also seeks to respond to the desire for a political leadership based outside of and representing non-elite sectors of society.

Beyond this, the two campaigns are very different. Nurcholish's concentrates on the single position of the presidency. The Popor campaign concentrates on social empowerment.

Another difference is, of course, in the arena of policy. What are Nurcholish's policies for dealing with the economic, social and cultural crisis in the country? Do we presume that they are the same as those of Golkar, from whom he is seeking support?

Golkar's basic policies are the same as that of the PDI Perjuangan: Accept recipe of the IMF; continue the military operation in Aceh; go slow -- super-slow -- on the trials of corruptors and human rights violators during the Soeharto era. In the meantime, among other policies, Popor rejects economic neo- liberalism, calls for an end to the war in Aceh and the speedy trials of all corruptors and human rights violators.

At least Dita has shown a more comprehensive program than Nurcholish. But what are the chances of Dita and Nurcholish?