Political parties are becoming more independent
JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian political organizations are becoming independent despite the bureaucracy's reluctance to loosen its grip, a political analyst said yesterday.
Leaders of political organizations have major contribution in encouraging the process of democratization, Arbi Sanit told a seminar on reassessment of the New Order's political format.
The seminar was organized by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) in remembrance of Alfian, one of Indonesia's prominent scholars, who died in 1992.
Indonesia has three sanctioned political organizations, the government-backed Golkar, the Moslem oriented United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI). Golkar likes to be called a "functional grouping" although it functions like a political party.
The political organizations' independence was reflected in increasingly outspoken legislators in the House of Representatives (DPR) over the past five years, Arbi said.
"PPP and PDI leaders have been surprisingly critical of the government's claim of success in development," said the political scientist from the University of Indonesia.
He pointed out that, unlike the past, current House members from all the three political organizations deserved thumb-ups because they are more courageous in criticizing the bureaucracy.
PDI, he said, had the courage to resist bureaucrats' attempts to meddle when it elected Megawati Sukarnoputri as its chairperson instead of the government-favored candidate.
Golkar's success in unraveling the financial scandal at the state-run Bank Pembangunan Indonesia (Bapindo) earlier this year was an obvious indication of political parties' performance as a check on central authority.
He noted, however, that the current level of independence is still far below public expectations.
"Look, political organizations and the House pledged their unreserved loyalty to President Soeharto in (last year's) presidential election when the public yearned for succession of national leadership," he said.
He also pointed at the removal of legislators simply because the government considers them "too outspoken" as an indication that the government still controls the political organizations and the legislative body.
In the latest twist, Golkar faction leaders in the House tried to silence the legislator who wanted to disclose an alleged huge bad debt at the textile company PT Kanindo.
But Arbi's bright picture of political parties and the legislative body was sneered at by Soerjadi, a deputy House Speaker from the PDI faction.
Soerjadi said the bureaucracy effectively "castrated" the rights of people in villages to political participation and that "government legislators" still dominate the House. (pan)