Reform coalition gets a boost from PK, PPP

JAKARTA (JP): The opposition alliance recently set up to challenge Golkar received on Friday a further boost when two Islamic parties with large followings, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Justice Party (PK), jumped on the bandwagon.

PPP chairman Hamzah Haz and PK president Nur Mahmudi Ismail signed a joint-communique with Amien Rais of the National Mandate Party (PAN) affirming their united stance for reform.

"The three of us... may share a different platform, but we have agreed on a crucial thing, which is not to nominate the incumbent President B.J. Habibie as the country's next president," Amien said in a meeting at the Kartika Chandra Hotel in Jakarta.

Amien signed on Tuesday the first communique with Abdurrahman Wahid of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and Megawati Soekarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), in which the three opposition leaders pledged to fight against status quo forces. Though the document did not name any party, the political leaders said they referred to the ruling Golkar Party.

Similar to the first agreement, the three parties on Friday also called for the presidential and vice presidential elections to be held three months after the June 7 poll's results are made official.

Reading out the document, Nur Mahmudi said the three leaders pledged to build a new and sound government, one that was trusted by the people and able to spur on the reform movement in order to establish a democratic life free from corruption, collusion and nepotism.

The leaders also pledged a strong coalition and welcomed other "proreform parties" to join them.

"I am telling you PPP will never nominate Habibie as some newspapers reported. We will not support him or consider an alliance with Golkar," Hamzah said. "Our party will have a PPP cadre as our presidential candidate."

Amien said Abdurrahman, better known as Gus Dur, endorsed Friday's agreement. "I spoke to him last night and he agreed to this meeting."

Amien believed the newly formed alliance would also boost the parties' gains in the polls. "Together we'll get at least 60 percent of the votes and hopefully Golkar will get a maximum of 9.7 percent only," he said.

Amien said the agreements would soon be followed up by other joint measures to secure the June 7 elections.

The meeting was also attended by PKB leader Alwi Shihab, PPP secretary-general Ali Marwan and PAN leader A.M. Fatwa.

Asked about the possibility of conflict among the five parties, as they each had their own presidential candidates, Amien said: "Well, PKB has Gus Dur, PAN has me, PDI Perjuangan has Mega... let's wait and see how the election results turn out. The most important thing now is to beat the status quo."

The Justice Party has named scholar Didin Hafidhuddin as its presidential candidate.

Fragile

Some people have expressed concern over the fragile nature of the alliance, given that at least two of the leaders -- Amien and Abdurrahman -- have openly haggled for the presidency, with neither one appearing willing to be second banana.

Meanwhile, in Banda Aceh, Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung dismissed suggestions the alliance was threatening Golkar's position as the dominant party.

"We won't be affected. If there are parties wishing to coalesce, they can do so, it's their right. Golkar is leaving the matter to the people and their votes." Akbar told Antara.

"If they want the (alliance) to hinder Golkar, we'll see how the elections go," he said. "If need be, Golkar, too, can set up alliances.

"It should be noted that we have had experience in government cooperation, especially with the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) under Budi Hardjono.

"Of course, we are going to take into account the total number of votes (won in the election) in considering which party to form a coalition with," he said.

Separately, in Yogyakarta, political observer Mochtar Mas'oed of Gadjah Mada University, said he believed Habibie had a strong chance to win the presidency because "the status quo forces, with Golkar as their prime mover, are still very strong".

He believed Golkar would still win a significant share of the votes, especially in regions outside of Java and in rural areas in Java.

"A very recent study shows that people outside of Java and in rural Java are unable to differentiate Golkar from the Indonesian Military, and most of them do not know about the new political parties, even the major ones.

"So, this status quo machine called Golkar... is still the most sophisticated machine. Remember, only Golkar has an infrastructure which can reach even the most remote areas," he said. (44/edt/swe)