PDI-P acknowledges bargaining with Golkar

PDI-P acknowledges bargaining with Golkar

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) acknowledged trading concessions with Golkar Party to
secure Akbar Tandjung's overwhelming win in the secret ballot for
House speaker in the early hours of Wednesday.

The concessions, PDI Perjuangan executives said, were given in
return for Golkar's support of their party chairwoman, Megawati
Soekarnoputri, in the Oct. 20 presidential election.

"Of course, there was a tradeoff of concessions previously,"
PDI Perjuangan deputy chairman Dimyati Hartono said.

However, Akbar, whose Golkar party has 120 seats in the 500-
member House of Representatives (DPR), denied such deals
arranging quid pro quo.

Akbar won 411 votes while PDI Perjuangan's Soetardjo
Soerjogoeritno collected only 54 in the ballot held after the
Crescent Star Party refused to accept a backroom deal between the
ten factions which tried to put Akbar at the post without a vote.

Sabam Sirait, another PDI Perjuangan deputy chairman, said
Akbar met with Megawati on Tuesday and the latter then lobbied
Muslim figure Abdurrahman Wahid, also known as Gus Dur, to garner
support for Akbar.

"You know more than I do about the political concessions
between the two major parties...," he said at a media conference
on Wednesday.

Four deputy speakers who were elected to the House leadership
are Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno of PDI Perjuangan, Khofifah Indar
Parawansa of the National Awakening Party (PKB), A.M. Fatwa of
the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Hamzah Haz of the United
Development Party (PPP).

Separately, Akbar who was sworn in as the new House speaker on
Wednesday, denied his party's bargaining with PDI Perjuangan,
saying: "There was no bargaining."

When asked whether his party would in turn support PDI
Perjuangan chairwoman Megawati in the upcoming presidential
election, he said: "There was no such concession ... (President)
B.J. Habibie is still Golkar's presidential candidate."

Akbar acknowledged approaching leaders of PDI Perjuangan and
other major factions in the House to garner support for his
election.

But Golkar deputy chairman Slamet Effendy Yusuf said there
were "under-the-table political concessions" made hours before
the ballot.

Slamet added though that intensive lobbying with party
leaders other than PDI Perjuangan also contributed greatly to the
sweeping majority of votes gained by Akbar.

"We will not make any political concession with other parties
for such principal matters as the presidential election," he told
reporters in reply to questions as to whether the repayment was
Golkar's support for PDI Perjuangan's presidential candidate.

Another Golkar deputy chairman, Marzuki Darusman, revealed
that PDI Perjuangan contributed some 120 votes to Akbar in the
secret ballot.

"This support can be clearly interpreted as PDI Perjuangan's
concession to win support from Golkar to secure victory in the
presidential or vice presidential election," Marzuki told
reporters.

Yusril Ihsa Mahendra, the chairman of the Crescent Star Party
(PBB), regretted the alleged tradeoff of a concession between
Golkar and PDI Perjuangan.

Yusril cited this suspected backroom deal was the main reason
behind his party's steadfast insistence to have a secret ballot
for House speaker.

"But please ask PDI Perjuangan or Golkar what kind of deals
they struck," he said, arguing that his party opposed Akbar's
unanimous appointment by most House members because it was not in
line with democratic principles.

Meanwhile, Pratikno, a political observer at the Yogyakarta-
based Gadjah Mada University, said that Golkar should support
Megawati in the presidential election in return for PDI
Perjuangan's support of Akbar.

"Since PDI Perjuangan has given a significant contribution to
Akbar's victory, Golkar in turn should support Megawati in the
presidential election," he said in Yogyakarta.

Pratikno added that PDI Perjuangan might have got such a
concession from the Indonesian Military (TNI) in return for
support of a vice presidential candidate from the military.

Dimyati expressed his optimism that Megawati would win the
presidential election with the support from other factions.

"We have been intensifying our lobbies with other rival
factions to canvas support for Megawati.

"It isn't necessary to disclose all the approaches we have
been making both individually and institutionally," Dimyati
added.

"PDI Perjuangan was defeated by several votes in the People's
Consultative Assembly and the House because they were not our
targets. Our main target is to win the presidency for Megawati, "
he said.

Separately, the joint Reform faction, consisting of the
National Mandate Party (PAN) and Justice Party (PK), reaffirmed
on Wednesday its nomination of Gus Dur as its presidential
candidate.

In a related development, hundreds of PDI Perjuangan
supporters staged a demonstration at the Hotel Indonesia's
traffic circle on Wednesday, demanding the MPR elect Megawati the
new president. (byg/emf/rms/05/44)