Poor grooming of leaders

Six pairs of running mates for the July 5 direct presidential election were registered with the General Elections Commission (KPU) when the deadline expired on Wednesday. This is an encouraging development because the selection process has been transparent and voters will have a wide choice. Due to the tight competition, it is quite likely that a runoff will have to take place on Sept. 20.

However, there is still some concern about the limited sources of future leaders available, with most of the candidates coming from only three major organizations. Of course, there is no reason to blame these organizations because the process of selecting the candidates was democratic and transparent. However, it is important that Indonesians appreciate this from the outset in order to enable the nation to cultivate a wider range of top- quality leaders for the future.

For the first time since the country's independence in 1945, voters will have the final say on who will be their leader. Both Sukarno, who ruled the country from 1945 to 1967, and Soeharto, from 1967 until his downfall in 1998, acted as strongmen, which made it very difficult for younger leaders to emerge.

The latter were denied the opportunity to develop, and the identification and promotion by political parties of suitable figures as potential leaders effectively never occurred. Indeed, such a process was prevented in order to ensure that the ruler remained in power.

From May 1998 to the present, this country has been led by three presidents, but many wonder why the nation is still unable to find top-quality leaders.

In this context it is interesting to note the background of the six pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates: The Indonesian Military (TNI), the ruling party in the Soeharto era, Golkar, and the country's largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), have yielded most of the candidates.

The incumbent, President Megawati Soekarnoputri, is the chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and also the daughter of the country's first president, Sukarno. She chose NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi as her running mate. Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono picked senior Golkar leader Yusuf Kalla as his partner. Golkar nominated former TNI chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto as its presidential nominee, with Solahuddin Wahid as his counterpart. Solahuddin was a leading figure in NU. It is worth noting that the organization was founded by his grandfather, Hasyim Asy'ari.

Meanwhile, Solahuddin's brother, nearly blind Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, has teamed up with a woman, Golkar politician Marwah Daud Ibrahim. Gus Dur, cofounder of the National Awakening Party (PKB), and who served as the country's president for nearly two years until July 2001, however, will likely encounter problems in satisfying the medical criteria established by the KPU.

Amien Rais, chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and former chairman of the country's second-largest Muslim organization, Muhammadiyah, has chosen former senior Golkar figure Siswono Yudohusodo to run for the vice presidency. Incumbent vice president, Hamzah Haz, who is also the United Development Party (PPP) chairman, has Gen. (ret) Agum Gumelar as his running mate.

In short, two presidential candidates and one vice presidential nominee have a military background. Golkar is contributing three figures and NU three.

When Soeharto fell in May 1998, the country was in total disarray. Civilian leaders like Gus Dur, Amien Rais and Megawati were expected to lead the nation out of the chaos and move toward a strong civil society. However, as most of the reformist leaders had limited experience of government, it was difficult to expect good governance skills from them. Their numbers were also very limited.

Therefore, only those who were part of the Soeharto regime -- either in the bureaucracy, in Golkar, or in the Military -- had the expertise to govern.

Golkar and the TNI were regarded as principal agents in the disasters of the recent past. Only six years later, however, people are turning to these two organizations because at least from their past track record in economic development and political stability, people think they can hope for improvement, which is more than they can expect from the reformist leaders.

It is, of course, not our intention to denigrate any of the six pairings as contenders. At present they are the best candidates the political parties can be expected to field. However, for the sake of the nation's future, all necessary steps must be taken to ensure that the grooming of future leaders will take place properly, at all levels of the nation's social and political life.

New leaders of better quality are unlikely to emerge unless the nation provides the fertile soil needed for the growth and breeding of our new national leadership.