Puppet leader may emerge from congress

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): The rebel congress to be held on Thursday by a splinter group of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) may result in the birth of a puppet leader, an observer says.

Kausar Bailusy, a lecturer at Hasanuddin University's School of Social and Political Sciences, said yesterday that the planned congress would not solve problems as some officials have previously suggested.

Instead, it will only deepen the rift between supporters of the incumbent chief Megawati Soekarnoputri and those of the breakaway faction which has been supported by a number of government officials, he said.

The best possible outcome of the congress is the emergence of a puppet leader, he said.

The question of a potential replacement for Megawati has been widely discussed, along with whether the planned congress is constitutional. The leader of the breakaway faction, deputy chief Fatimah Achmad, has disclaimed interest in the chair. Former chairman Soerjadi, who was ousted by Megawati in the party's 1993 congress, has also said he is not interested in the position.

He later changed his mind however and said that he would be willing to chair the party should the congress elect him.

Political scientist Maswadi Rauf, of the University of Indonesia's School of Social and Political Sciences in Jakarta, called Soerjadi's retraction a bad move. Soerjadi, who is currently deputy House Speaker, risked tarnishing his name as a politician, he said.

"Those already suspicious of him would be convinced that he was really the mastermind of the demand for the congress," Maswadi said. "He'll be a laughing stock."

Maswadi said that Soerjadi, should he be elected, would face not only resistance from PDI members but lose whatever political independence he might still have left.

"He wouldn't be able to retain his independence," Maswadi said.

Voting

Regarding the congress, Bailusy speculated that some "external elements" might have manipulated the existing conflict within the party so that it progressed into the breakaway faction's push for the fresh chairman election.

Bailusy did not identify the "elements" but pointed out that PDI has been growing in popularity for several years at the expense of its rivals -- the ruling Golkar and the United Development Party. "If PDI becomes increasingly popular and wins more votes, Golkar would surely feel threatened," he said.

The political situation may create in some people an apathy great enough to convince them to abstain from general elections altogether, he said.

Separately, in Surabaya, East Java, former Armed Forces (ABRI) chief of general affairs Lt. Gen. (ret) H.B.L. Mantiri called on Indonesian youths not to abstain from voting. "Voting is part of your participation in developing this nation," he said.

Mantiri was responding to a student participant at a seminar held at Petra University who said he was so disappointed by the current political situation that he was considering not voting.

"I don't want to vote because the existing political system does not guarantee a fair and honest general election," the student said.

Mantiri, recently appointed ambassador to Singapore, said that "politics is always marked with conflicts of interests of various groups."

"We should be aware of this and refuse to be pitted against one another, refuse to be involved in conflicts," Mantiri said. "We should always try to find solutions to problems through discussion."

Mantiri said that social diversity can be positive, but may also adversely affect national integration. He suggested that the students learn from a saying whose acronym is WORLD.

"Wisdom from God, Obedience to God, Reliance on God, Love of God, Diligence to God," he said. "My advice is simple: leave everything to God." (20/15/swe)