Poor grooming of leaders

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.