Parties lack incentives to improve political life

Berni K. Mustafa, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

As political parties begin jostling for votes in the 2004 General Election, concern is growing that the public's only choice will be between Islamic and nationalistic parties.

Analysts say there is little incentive for parties to offer the public more rational choices and educate constituents to become better voters.

"The political elite simply capitalizes on public ignorance," Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a political analyst at the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), said on Wednesday.

He said it was easier to raise votes by herding the public and playing on their religious or nationalistic sentiments. Party programs or concepts, he said, became irrelevant during campaigns.

The country's two largest parties, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-Perjuangan) and the Golkar Party have fixed their position in the nationalist corner.

At the other end is a cluster of Islamic parties, such as the Crescent Star Party, the Justice Party and the third largest party, the United Development Party.

Since the 1955 General Election, the palette of parties has not changed, bar the absence of Communist parties.

Still, Marxism remains a viable ideology to younger voters, and this offers a niche to the People's Democratic Party (PRD).

Analysts said the lack of choice has confined the public to primordial sentiments, pitting Islamists against Nationalists.

It prevents voters from making more rational choices -- a prerequisite for improving the nation's political life.

Slowing the pace of progress is in the interests of political parties, according to Ikrar.

He said the rise in Islam's popularity, particularly among younger voters since Soeharto stepped down in 1998, prompted parties to take on the mantle of Islam.

The National Mandate Party (PAN) is a good example of how the ideology of parties has followed such a trend.

In the 1999 election, Ikrar said, PAN made an attempt to break away from the traditional Islam-Nationalist bracket by offering a more inclusive platform.

Yet over time, PAN turned pragmatic and joined the Islamic grouping, Ikrar said.

Following the 1999 election, PAN entered the Central Axis -- a loose coalition of Islamic parties that PAN's chairman, Amien Rais, initiated. None of the Central Axis's party members won a sizable vote to win the presidential race, but together they managed to block election winner PDI-Perjuangan from securing the presidency for chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri. The Central Axis's presidential candidate, Abdurrahman Wahid, won the race.

Also explaining PAN's migration is that Amien once led the country's second largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah. According to Ikrar, Muhammadiyah's members provide PAN, which was founded in 1998, with a secure base.

Almost all parties in the 1999 General Election were newcomers and had to compete against the more powerful Golkar, PPP and PDI's growing splinter group, PDI-Perjuangan. Some analysts said this forced younger parties to prioritize pragmatism over ideology.

"Party leaders still lack the confidence to promote their own political platform," Ikrar said. "Instead, we have a party leader who makes overtures to alleged terrorists to boost his image among hardliners."

Analyst Fachry Ali said parties were unwilling to change because they fear losing voters.

"The interests of parties boils down to the question of where its position will be in the event of political development," he said earlier in the week.

He added that in 1955 voters went for party ideology, but this time around they are fixated on party leaders. "This can't be progress."