PKB sets out a clear vision for the future

The National Awakening Party (PKB) is one of four new parties claiming to represent the interests of the Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim organization. Party leaders talked to The Jakarta Post recently about its strategy for next month's general election.

JAKARTA (JP): The National Awakening Party (PKB), while claiming to be the party representing the millions of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) followers, has lofty proposals for the country that transcend primordial lines: national reconciliation and a new leadership.

Considered among the more serious contenders of the 48 political parties in the June 7 election, PKB is almost certain to push for the nomination of Abdurrahman Wahid, the chairman of NU, which boasts more than 30 million members and supporters.

Abdurrahman, or Gus Dur to aficionados, returned this week from the United States after an eye surgery. He had earlier said that if his vision improved, he would run for the presidency.

With the election campaign period less than two weeks away, PKB is already working on the assumption that Gus Dur will be prepared to stake his claim to the country's highest office.

"Gus Dur sees that Indonesia is in a very critical condition. He is making himself available to lead the country and restore order and confidence," said Muamir Mu'in Syam, coordinator of PKB's department for organization, members and cadres.

"This national crisis is really about a leadership crisis. We chose the wrong leader, one that has no morals. For too long, this country has lived under false pretenses," said Abdul Wachid, coordinator of international relations in the party.

"If the country elects a good leader, most of the rest of the problem will take care of itself," Wachid added.

When asked about Gus Dur's state of health, Muamir said: "His vision may be impaired, but his mind is sharper than ours."

The party is keeping its options open about forging a coalition after the election, a likely scenario since no single party is expected to win enough votes to form a government on its own.

But Wachid said PKB would not form a coalition with "status quo" forces, a term used to describe the ruling Golkar and other parties with close ties to the past Soeharto regime.

The criteria for a coalition partner should be that the other party supports reforms. Among candidates for coalition partners are the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), and even the National Mandate Party (PAN), in spite of personality clashes between its leader Amien Rais and Gus Dur, Wachid said.

"Personally, I would go for a coalition with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle," he said, adding, however, that coalition plans would only be formally discussed after the election results are known.

Muamir said that first and foremost in PKB's agenda, if given the chance to form a government, is to forge national reconciliation.

"We want to see all components in society participate in government. People in Aceh, Irian Jaya and East Timor will be involved and given the chance to say what they want," he said.

As a symbolic gesture of reconciliation, a PKB president could well name people from other parties into his Cabinet, he said.

Gus Dur has been campaigning for the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission, to comprise local and foreign figures. Among foreigners he has named are Nelson Mandela, Vaclav Havel, Lee Kuan Yew, Oscar Arias Sanchez and Jimmy Carter.

Founded in July 1998, PKB is the largest of four new parties claiming to represent NU. The main competition for NU voters, however, comes from the United Development Party (PPP), which was established in 1972 as a fusion of four Muslim parties, including the NU.

Bickering in the PPP led to Gus Dur taking the NU faction out of PPP in 1984, removing NU from formal party politics, until the establishment of PKB last year.

Although PKB is banking on the support of NU supporters, it is open to non-NU members, and non-Muslims for that matter.

"Our ideology is Pancasila," Muamir said. "We have recruited non-NU people who are Christians in places like East Nusa Tenggara and Irian Jaya."

"The substance of the party's programs and mission clearly reflects that we're an open party," Wachid said. "This is where Gus Dur's statesmanship is important, because he has been able to gain wide acceptance outside NU."

Besides reconciliation, PKB's election platforms include promoting the supremacy of law, providing effective checks and balances to control the government's power, promoting civil society and putting sovereignty back in the hands of the people.

PKB supports giving sweeping autonomy to the regions, and phasing out the military's sociopolitical role by 2004.

Wachid admitted that there was a huge gap in perceptions on state matters and democracy between Gus Dur and the kiyai, the charismatic leaders of pesantren (Muslim boarding schools) which provide the bulk of support for NU and PKB.

"Gus Dur is further ahead than any of us in his thinking, but we all think in the same framework. There is no problem here, and the kiyai will support Gus Dur," he said.

This gap is now being bridged by the young generation in NU, and the kiyai are no longer as restrictive in their thinking as in the past, Wachid said.

Wachid and Muamir said certain parties have been launching a systematic hate and slander campaign against PKB and Gus Dur in the run-up to the elections.

Last week's violence in Jepara, Central Java, in which four PKB supporters were killed in clashes with PPP supporters, was the result of such campaigns, they said.

The slander includes accusations that Gus Dur was a Jewish agent, and that PKB was an acronym for Partai Kiyai Buta (Party for Blind Kiyai).

Muamir said the physical and verbal attacks against PKB have angered the party's supporters and many are anxious to exact revenge. "It is our job at the executive board to calm them down, and to appeal to them not to be provoked and retaliate," he said.