Political machine key to Golkar success in regional polls

Political machine key to Golkar success in regional polls

Despite its strong association with the New Order regime of
former president Soeharto, the Golkar Party managed to dominate
not only the last legislative election, but also direct regional
elections held in several regencies. The Jakarta Post's Slamet
Susanto discussed this with Riswandha Imawan, a political analyst
at Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

Question: What has allowed Golkar Party to win the majority of
votes in direct elections in several regions?

Answer: To make the answer short, it is because Golkar is the
political party that is most prepared to face the unprecedented
direct regional elections.

This is evident from Golkar's political machine, which has
worked effectively since the legislative and presidential
elections last year in terms of successfully building its image.
Other political parties have been trapped in infighting over
power and have not turned their attention to recruiting new
members, so they are not ready for the regional elections.

What are the indications that other parties are not well
prepared and have failed to develop their human resources?

The most obvious one would be the performances of their
candidates, which generally have not been good, with the
exception of a couple of quality candidates. The candidates are
not qualified to serve as the people's representatives.

This proves that the parties are not ready to compete, as they
only think about how to get a share of the power pie.

Do you think the incumbent local leaders from the Golkar Party
have had something to do with the failure of other parties to
prepare for regional elections?

The situation now is unpredictable. The fact is that severe
malnutrition has become rife, and both the economy and security
are getting worse. Will people vote for candidates whose track
records are unclear? Theoretically, they won't. Instead, people
will vote for familiar faces, or in this case those who are
already in power.

Unless they have committed some unacceptable ethical or moral
violation, the incumbents stand a great chance for reelection. In
this situation, people would rather vote for candidates who are
familiar rather than for total strangers.

Then why has Golkar done better in elections than, for
example, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P),
which also has lots of members running local administrations?

Both Golkar and the PDI-P are powerful in the regions. But
Golkar is dominating the regional elections because, unlike the
PDI-P, it has successfully projected a good image.

There are several regional leaders who compensate for the PDI-
P's lack of a good image, such as Regent Rustriningsih in Kebumen
and Regent Idham Samawi in Bantul.

An example of this was the reelection of Syaukani H.R. in
Kutai Kartanegara regency in East Kalimantan, which was achieved
through the mobilization of Golkar supporters.

What are the other signs that the Golkar political machinery
is running smoothly?

In corruption cases, for instance. It is easy for people to
link (former Golkar leader) Akbar Tandjung to corruption cases,
but the mechanisms inside the party are able to suppress this.

This is also seen in the regions, where Golkar always manages
to protect members allegedly involved in corruption cases. PDI-P
cannot do the same thing.

Given all this, how many regency posts do you think Golkar
will win in the regional elections?

I think the target set by Golkar leader (and Vice President)
Jusuf Kalla to win 60 percent of the top posts in the regencies
and provinces can be surpassed. It is already 60 percent and with
all the factors I have mentioned, I am sure they will win over 60
percent of the posts up for grabs in the regional elections.

Which regions in particular will be Golkar strongholds?

The eastern areas of Indonesia are easy targets because Golkar
already has traditional strongholds there. In Java, however, with
more well-informed voters, the competition will be more wide
open.

Parties like the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National
Awakening Party (PKB) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) will
also dominate certain regions.

If Golkar dominates the elections for regents, mayors and
governors, will the party cooperate with other parties? And what
about the process of regional development?

Party consolidation and regional development are inseparable.
Coalitions will be necessary to face the 2009 general election.
Parties must also heed the demands of grassroots supporters,
whether or not they like it.

I think Golkar supporters will fight it out to dominate the
regional elections to prepare for the 2009 elections, where the
party will be able to boast about its achievements in the
regions.