Parties in disarray

A little more than four years after president Soeharto's forced resignation in May 1998 brought about hopes of political reform, the growth of the party system in Indonesia still gives little reason for contentment. Every day the reports that we read or hear about in the media bring us news of rifts in a number of political parties that could possibly lead to more serious splits.

The United Development Party (PPP), which is led by Hamzah Haz, the Republic's incumbent vice-president, is currently reported to be in danger of breaking up with the formation of a PPP Reformasi under the leadership of Kiyai Haji Zainuddin M.Z. The real reason why PPP, which among Muslim parties has the largest number of seats in the House of Representatives, is now on the brink of breaking up is not quite clear. There seems to have been an internal debate within PPP about whether to conduct a national working conference of party representatives in 2003, as was decided before, or to postpone it until towards the end of 2004, after the next general elections.

K.H. Zainuddin M.Z., in a statement, pointed to a more principled issue, namely the party's position towards the implementation of syariah (Islamic) law. Zainuddin M.Z. has said that by advocating the implementation of Islamic law in Indonesia, as Hamzah Haz and his followers seem to be doing, the party would become unpopular in the public's eye. Efforts to patch up the differences meanwhile seem to have been fruitless. Zainuddin formally announced his resignation on Tuesday and, barring unexpected developments, the new party, PPP Reformasi, is expected to formally come into being on Jan. 27, with the composition of its executive board to be made public in May.

The problem faced by the National Awakening Party (PKB), former president Abdurrahman Wahid's party, is more serious compared to that which is facing PPP. Matori Abdul Jalil, the current minister of defense in President Megawati's cabinet, claims he is still the party's legitimate chairman. On the other hand former foreign minister Alwi Shihab has positioned himself as the new party chairman.

Matori's political sin was that he went along with moves within the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) last year to replace president Abdurrahman Wahid with his then vice-president Megawati Soekarnoputri. Gus Dur, as Abdurrahman Wahid is popularly known, and his followers regarded it a serious breach of party loyalty that Matori was present during the MPR special session, which was convened on July 21 to start proceedings towards installing Megawati as president of Indonesia. The two factions are now planning to hold their "national conferences" in Yogyakarta in the near future. There is always the possibility that a reunited PKB will emerge at the urging of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which is their spiritual base organization.

Looking at Golkar, that resilient political entity inherited from president Soeharto's New Order, it is no secret that various factions exist within that party. With the Attorney General now having declared its chairman, Akbar Tanjung, a suspect in a major corruption case, it is not surprising that moves have emerged within that party to replace its chairman. If that happens it can be expected that Golkar as a centrist party will break up.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), this country's largest party which managed to win 32 percent of the popular vote in the 1999 general election, is also far from solid. Senior party leaders who were formerly close to their chairperson, Megawati Soekarnoputri, and were the source of many innovative ideas, are now marginalized. It seems that the president's husband, Taufik Kiemas, who is a member of the House of Representatives, has managed to consolidate his position as a strong figure in the party. Close observers of PDI Perjuangan have made the pessimistic assessment that the party might have to be content with a mere 15 percent of the popular vote in the 2004 general election.

On the one hand, the instability of the political parties in Indonesia is not very surprising, given the intense social- political dynamics which the country has been experiencing in the last three years, coupled with complex economic problems. In just a little more than three years the country has seen three presidents come and go. The political parties have hardly had time to adjust and consolidate their ranks and come up with party platforms that are relevant to the myriad problems Indonesia is facing.

The urgent question that needs to be posed at this stage is whether the main political parties can reorganize themselves before the next general election and thus, as transformed parties, make viable contributions to this country's emerging democracy. If internal conflicts and instability continue to afflict the main political parties, it can be easily predicted that the 2004 general election will produce a fragile political system and thus also a weak government.