Regional United Party pledges voice for the regions

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.