PKB sets out a clear vision for the future

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.