PBB aims for clean government with sharia

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Muslim-based Crescent Star Party (PBB) vowed on Wednesday to woo voters with sharia and realize its political ambition in the general elections.

PBB Secretary General MS Kaban said his party was convinced that sharia would help bring in a clean government.

"People generally associate sharia with punishment, but we consider it a universal value that can be turned into legislation," Kaban said during a visit to The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Kaban believed the government's failure to eradicate corruption, collusion and nepotism after the collapse of the New Order regime in 1998 stemmed from its failure to reform the government.

"There will be more significant achievements in the country's attempts to combat KKN if we change the existing system, which allows crimes to be committed," he said, referring to the local acronym for corruption, collusion and nepotism.

The PBB, which is headed by incumbent Minister of Justice and Human Rights Yusril Ihza Mahendra, is one of the 24 political parties contesting the April 5 general elections.

Kaban declined to reveal the party's electoral target, only saying that it aimed to grasp the third largest majority votes in the legislative election.

The PBB claimed that it has 4.5 million members nationwide and names as its strongholds Banten, West Java, West Nusa Tenggara, West Sumatra, South Sulawesi, Gorontalo, South Sumatra, North Sumatra, Central Kalimantan, East Kalimantan and Riau.

A party needs to win a minimum 3 percent of seats in the House of Representatives or 5 percent of all votes in order to field a candidate in Indonesia's first ever direct presidential election on July 5. A second round is scheduled for Sept. 20 in the case that there is no clear winner.

The PBB has nominated Yusril as its presidential candidate.

Popularity polls show that Yusril, a former speech writer for Soeharto, still trailed behind the leaders of other major political parties: Megawati Soekarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Abdurrahman Wahid of the National Awakening Party (PKB).

The PBB, established on July 17, 1998, won 2.9 percent of around 114 million votes cast in the 1999 presidential election, ranking it sixth among the 48 contesting parties.

The party has often been regarded as a contemporary version of the Masyumi Party of the 1940s and 1950s, a coalition party that was supported by the country's largest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and the Muhammadiyah.

Kaban ruled out a possible threat from one of its biggest rivals, the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which continues to gain support in the polls.

"We will be very grateful if they (the PKS) become a major party, as they will become a partner and strengthen us," he said.

Kaban said the PBB had different voter base than that of the PKS: while the PKS targeted young, educated Muslims at universities nationwide, the PBB campaigned in rural areas.

"We'll see the results in this year's elections," said Sahar L. Hassan, PBB campaign manager.