Regional United Party pledges voice for the regions
Anton Doni, Head, Research and Development Unit, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
One desired change in the days after the fall of Soeharto was to end the "free seats" for nonelected representatives and the dissolution of the two factions in the legislative bodies whose members are appointed. Apart from the military and police faction the other is that of the regional delegates.
Under the New Order's tight centralization policy it was evident that there was nothing that the faction of regional representatives could do to make Jakarta listen and genuinely respond to simmering unrest in the regions. The faction, like that of the military and police, gained a bad name for its seeming function of adding to the list of guaranteed Soeharto loyalists in the highest bodies.
When efforts were made to do away with the Regional Delegates Faction (FUD) members strived hard to keep their seats. The new arrangement of spreading the members among party-based factions, they said, would be less effective in channeling regional interests. Political and legal reform had led to the concept of the Regional Representatives Council (DPD), but this was also greeted with little enthusiasm.
"There is no assurance that regional delegates will sit in the DPD, and there is neither any assurance that the DPD will forward the aspirations of regional delegates," Oesman Sapta Odang, deputy speaker from the FUD at the People's Consultative Assembly said, as quoted in Kompas daily in late 2002. Therefore a better way to ensure such aspirations are heard was through a political party that could then better influence the legislature, he said.
DPD members will only comprise 30 percent of the MPR, he said.
With some colleagues from FUD the popular Oesman set up the Regional United Party (PPD). He was elected in 1999 by the provincial legislature in West Kalimantan to be a member of the FUD in the Assembly before becoming a deputy speaker.
The former chairman of the provincial Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) was earlier already well known particularly in West Kalimantan, as noted in a new book on the democracy movement (Gerakan Demokrasi di Indonesia pasca- Soeharto, the Democracy Movement in Post-Soeharto Indonesia, Demos, 2003). The researchers' sources reveal that Oesman was an orphaned, self-educated man who succeeded in business. He is also known to have close ties with the army and former intelligence chief Lt. Gen. (ret) ZA Maulani, who is from Central Kalimantan.
The owner of Mahkota Hotel in West Kalimantan's capital, Pontianak, Oesman stood up for locals' interests in the case of the state-run estate PT Perkebunan Nusantara XIII in West Kalimantan, saying that it was outsiders who got the most jobs there. He also supported students who demanded that governor Aspar Aswin resign. Oesman published his own biweekly tabloid, Suaka, which was viewed as a forum to attack Aswin.
Now Oesman and his party are committed, in their booklet's words, to the goal that "people living on the top of the mountains, at sea and in remote villages must feel secure", protected from violence and human rights violations. Thus legal certainty and assurance of security is a must for this party.
The party's strengths lie in the practical experience of its leaders, its executives say, which may complement the theoretical knowledge on regional autonomy that can be boasted by leaders of another party claiming to fight for regional interests, the Unity Democratic Nationhood (PDK) party.
Launched on Dec. 18 2002, the party listed 202 legislative candidates or around 30 percent of the allowed number of national legislative candidates.
A number of former military and police figures are on the list. The party's deputy chairman for organizational affairs Soehardi Oetomo is a retired army officer previously with the Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) and the intelligence agency; he's now the party's top legislative candidate from West Java.
Another former army man is Obrien Sitepu, now a top candidate from Papua province. Secretary-general Ronggo Soenarso is a former Air Force official, now running for East Java province.
Though realizing that time to prepare for the harsh battleground is very short for the new party, Soehardi claims that support is "quite equally distributed in all provinces".
No national mass organization is known to support this party. Within the sports world Oesman is chairman of the national karate body, the Kushin Ryu M Karate-do Indonesia (KKI), for the period of 2002-2006.
The party declares itself as a nationalist party open to people from any background regardless of ethnicity, religion or class.