PPP and leadership

PPP and leadership

Political congresses are more about the elections of its new
chairperson than they are a platform for announcing its programs
for the future. The United Development Party (PPP), which opens
its congress in Jakarta today, is no exception.

In this case, however, the party is not solely to be blamed.
Both the PPP and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) have long
complained that they have been denied freedom to introduce their
programs at the grassroots level.

This apparently is the reason why discussion about the PPP
lately has centered around the efforts to unseat the current
chairman, Ismail Hasan Metareum. Many party activists have
accused him of being too establishment-oriented, and thus lacking
in the qualities of a populist leader which the party badly needs
today. Such people think he pales in comparison to Harmoko, the
chairman of the government Golkar party who is also Minister of
Information, and Megawati Soekarnoputri, the PDI chairwoman, who
is also a daughter of the late president Sukarno.

Many PPP supporters have been worried about Ismail's style of
leadership, and veteran campaigners of the party have even voiced
concern that the PPP, which traditionally enjoyed the support
from Moslems, will be in danger of becoming the smallest party in
the world's largest Moslem country, if Ismail continues to occupy
the top spot.

Although his re-election depends on many factors, the record
shows that during his five years of leadership, the PPP has
become increasingly less sensitive towards many social and
political issues. During the 1992 general election Ismail failed
to lead the party to recoup the loss of 33 of its 94
parliamentary seats in the 1987 polls, when Jailany Naro led the
PPP.

The most serious problem faced by the party during the last
five years is its identity crisis. The PPP, which used to
function by Islamic fiat, has failed to adopt any identity since
it was forced by law to bring its ideological basis in line with
Pancasila, the state ideology, in 1983. Unlike Golkar and the
PDI, the PPP has starkly failed to show what it stands for
politically.

The lack of grassroots orientation together with Ismail's
leadership have also hurt the PPP's young Turks, who are led by
Sri Bintang Pamungkas. Sri Bintang himself has announced his
intention of challenging Ismail in the election.

On the other hand, the authorities seem quite pleased with
Ismail's political attitude and leadership style. Few doubt that
they wish to see him remain at his post. Although the government
has said that it will not intervene in the PPP's congress, the
way it sympathizes with Ismail will surely influence the election
of PPP's new leadership.

This is inseparable from the government's policy of basing all
of its programs upon stability. Ismail seems the PPP politician
most likely to support this principle because over the past five
years he has never been heard to criticize any of the
government's measures. He even went so far as to declare his full
understanding with the government's recent decision to ban three
leading magazines.

Ironically, his re-election chances look more certain with
each passing day since no strong candidates have emerged to
challenge him from within both the NU and MI, the strongest
factions within the party.