PDI Perjuangan anticipates threat from Golkar Party
PDI Perjuangan anticipates threat from Golkar Party
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Annastashya Emmanuelle, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta
Just a few hours after the Attorney General's Office decided to
detain Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung, the party fought
back and vowed that they would go further by withdrawing its
members from the Cabinet and even initiating a "national boycott"
against the government.
State Minister for Information and Telecommunication Syamsul
Muarif, who is a Golkar senior member, said that a number of
Golkar executives, including himself, had given their guarantee
to the government for Akbar's release.
Nevertheless, if that does not work, Golkar would realize its
threat that it would retract its members from the Cabinet of
President Megawati Soekarnoputri.
"However, when we reach a certain point that we could not
tolerate anymore, maybe we would conduct a national boycott and
leave the Cabinet," Syamsul told The Jakarta Post.
He added that the decision to possibly conduct a political
vendetta against the government was taken at a meeting on
Wednesday night.
Golkar currently has three ministers in the Cabinet, including
Syamsul. The other two are Coordinating Minister of Social
Welfare Jusuf Kalla, and State Minister of Women Empowerment Sri
Redjeki Soemarjoto.
Golkar, the second largest party in the country after
Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan), played an important role in catapulting Megawati
into presidency after ousting former president Abdurrahman Wahid.
This Golkar's strong intention to pull its support from the
current government quickly raise question whether this would
bring political instability and ruin the current coalition among
big parties in supporting Megawati, until the end of her tenure
in 2004.
Since the graft case in the State Logistics Agency (Bulog)
involving Akbar came to fore late last year, many Golkar members
have repeatedly threatened that should Akbar be harmed, the party
will go all out to create political instability and take
everybody down with them.
However, Golkar itself is not that solid, as there are some
factions inside the party that do not support Akbar and there is
always a possibility that some of its executives may be happy
with the government's decision to detain Akbar.
Another weak point is that Golkar carries a bad image of the
New Order administration, and therefore, to conduct such vendetta
against the current government could backfire.
PDI Perjuangan deputy chairman Roy B.Janis said that he never
discounted any possibility that Golkar would disturb the current
administration, but in the end it would hurt them more then
Megawati.
"Soon they start to conduct a terrible move against the
government, people will see that Golkar is against legal
proceedings and it will be a very bad campaign for them," Roy
told the Post.
He further said that the decision to detain Akbar had put
Golkar in the edge, and would open a new arsenal for Akbar's
opponents to fight for the party's top post.
Khofifah Indar Parawansa, a former minister under Abdurrahman,
said that PDI Perjuangan should not worry about Golkar's threat,
noting that in any case, Golkar would be the loser.
"Currently, Golkar has only bad choices. In either way, their
image will be in stake. Whether it decides to become a opposition
or conduct any political move against Megawati, it will only hurt
its image," Khofifah told the Post.
Political analyst Arbi Sanit agreed and said that the planned
departure of Golkar from the Cabinet should serve as a golden
chance for Megawati to side with the justice and the people.
"Now is the time for PDI Perjuangan to show its true color to
maintain the support of the Indonesian people and brave the
consequences," he told the Post.