PPP's final stand

PPP's final stand

After days of suspenseful waiting, the United Development
Party's (PPP) final stand concerning the recent general election
must have come as an anticlimax to many observers. Until the
announcement was made Wednesday by the party's deputy secretary-
general, Bachtiar Chamsyah, they could at least toy with the
interesting speculation of what would happen if the party should
refuse to endorse the election results. After the dismal
performance of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in the
recent election, the PPP is now practically the sole nongoverning
party capable of balancing the overwhelming dominance of Golkar
in the House of Representatives.

In a drawn-out meeting over the past week, the party's
chapters and branches agreed to leave the crucial final decision
regarding this delicate question to the central party board. Now
the central board has bounced the ball back into the courts of
the party's regional chapters and branches by letting them decide
for themselves what kind of stand they wish to take. Although
most of these chapters and branches are expected to endorse the
balloting results, a number of chapters and branches in the
provinces earlier said they would refuse to do so, alleging vote-
rigging and irregularities during the vote counting.

If there is one conclusion to be drawn from this whole
episode, it is that the decision is a particularly tough one for
the party to take. Simply accepting the results could put the
party in an unfavorable light, given the cries of election fraud
that it has been sounding. On the other hand, a straight refusal
to endorse the officially announced results could have serious
political consequences for the party.

It is not difficult to see that either an acceptance or a
refusal of the election results by the central party board could
raise dangerous internal conflicts and friction within the party
itself. The decision to leave it all to the regions, therefore,
is easy enough to understand and to accept. It also creates the
favorable impression of a democratic leadership within the PPP.

One other phenomenon deserves noting. Moderate as the PPP's
final stance may seem to be, the phenomenon of openly and
persistently protesting violations, whether real or perceived,
constitutes a new drift in this country's politics. In the past,
the common thing for unhappy election contenders to do was to
acquiesce, after perhaps a few token protests by the party
boards.

This time, the protests have been aired far more openly, and
not only at board level, but among the grass roots. Although in
the end there is no avoiding the prevailing political realities,
the trend deserves noting. If one lesson can be drawn from all
this, it is that all things are subject to change. Flaws or
imperfections that were tolerable in the public's eye in the
past, may not be in the present.

Now that the din of the election is subsiding and the dust is
settling, the first post-election priority for all of us must be
to work, hand in hand, toward achieving a true national
reconciliation. Only in a climate of peace and affinity can we
achieve our goal of building a just and prosperous society. It is
a goal in which we all have a stake.