PKB upbeat about Gus Dur's bid for presidency
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The National Awakening Party (PKB) is optimistic about the chances of party founder Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid in the upcoming presidential election, saying Gus Dur will defeat his competitors if he can just make it into the second round of the election.
Reform-minded people, according to PKB leaders, have not abandoned Gus Dur, and minority groups are counting on the former chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
"Support from reform-minded people and minority communities, as well as from Nahdlatul Ulama members, are some of the strengths of Gus Dur," PKB chairman Alwi Shihab said on Wednesday.
Together with several party executives, including deputy chairman Muhaimin Iskandar and legislator Ali Masykur Musa, Alwi Shihab visited The Jakarta Post office on Wednesday.
Gus Dur was elected as the country's fourth president in 1999. However, he was impeached by the People's Consultative Assembly two years into his five-year term for incompetence.
Indonesia will have its first ever direct presidential election on July 5, 2004, with a possible second round in September should the first round fail to produce a clear winner.
A total of 24 political parties have been declared eligible to contest the legislative elections scheduled for April 5, 2004. Only those parties or coalitions of parties that win at least 3 percent of the votes for the House of Representatives (DPR) or 5 percent of the total vote will be allowed to field candidates in the presidential election.
A total of 145 million eligible voters have registered to vote in the elections. The NU has about 40 million members across the country.
Alwi believes that if the PKB is able to survive into a second round of the presidential election, Gus Dur will emerge the winner.
He said that in the first round of the election, Gus Dur would probably face tough competition from Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI- P), and Amien Rais, chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly. He said all three of these politicians had established grassroots networks.
Before founding PAN, Amien led Muhammadyah, the second largest Muslim organization in Indonesia.
"Megawati has her own supporters and so does Amien who, of course, will be supported by his traditional supporters from Muhammadyah. But I guess the number of votes from Muhammadyah will not be as many as the number of votes the PKB will win from its traditional supporters," Alwi said, referring to the nearly 40 million NU followers.
During the visit, Alwi was asked whether the NU would issue a letter urging the organization's followers to vote for the PKB.
"I'm sure it will because the PKB is the only political party that was directly established by NU.
"We predict that only Megawati and Gus Dur will be able to compete in the second round of the (presidential) election, and I'm quite sure that Muslim voters, from the NU, Muhammadyah and other organizations, will channel their votes to Gus Dur.
"I don't think the Golkar Party will be able to compete with us because it has failed to develop a grassroots network even though it was the ruling party during the 32 years of the New Order regime," Alwi said.
Ali Masykur Musa, head of the party's campaign department, predicted the PKB would win at least 23 percent of the vote in the legislative elections.