Rifts widen in Golkar, PDI-P

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

Internal conflicts within the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) are likely to intensify and turn their respective national meetings into power struggles, analysts say.

Maswadi Rauf, a professor of political science at the University of Indonesia (UI), said the disputes would come to a head at the meetings, where conflicting camps would likely blame each other for failures in the elections this year.

"The internal rift in Golkar is not only between Akbar Tanjung and Fahmi Idris, but between two camps who have supporters both at the leadership level and at the grassroots level. The party's congress in December will see a struggle of power between the two sides," Maswadi said during a discussion on Friday.

The conflict centers on the move by some Golkar members to defy the party's decision to support presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Hasyim Muzadi in the Sept. 20 election runoff. Golkar recently dismissed executives Fahmi Idris and Marzuki Darusman and top figures Burhanuddin Napitupulu and Lesiangi for openly stating that they intended to vote for the candidate of their choice, rather than the one they were ordered to vote for by Golkar leaders. In addition, they suspended Jusuf Kalla as the party's advisor for allegedly meddling in Golkar's internal affairs in recent weeks.

Kalla is set to assume his job as vice president of the nation as he and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have all but officially won the election in a landslide.

Maswadi said the two conflicting camps were soliciting support from party officials in provinces and regencies ahead of the congress in mid-December.

Akbar and his allies will be blamed for the party's failure in the presidential election. Golkar's candidate Wiranto lost in the first round, and its support for the Mega-Hasyim ticket in the second round was another flop.

Maswadi said the internal squabbling within PDI-P would also peak during its January 2005 congress, with participants who are disappointed with the party's defeat in the legislative and presidential elections likely to demand the dismissal of what party executive Kwik Kian Gie called "the Gang of Three".

"The conflict will not pit Kwik against the three men, but mainly involve supporters of the two camps," Maswadi said.

He predicted that during the congress, a lot of members would seek a new party leader and attempt to purge the party of its corrupt and unfaithful politicians.

The Gang of Three refers to party secretary-general Sutjipto, his deputy Pramono Anung Wibowo and deputy chairman Gunawan Wirosarojo.

Kwik has blamed the three for Mewagati's defeat, since they were the architects of the Nationhood Coalition with former president Soeharto's political machine Golkar.

Another speaker, J. Kristiadi of the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said the Nationhood Coalition, effectively led by Akbar, would not help them reach their political goals or promote a proper system of checks and balances due to their incongruous political ideologies.

"The coalition will not last long since its main political motive is to seek power and positions in the legislative body and regional legislatures, while they have different political platforms and ideologies," he said.

The coalition groups PDI-P, Golkar, the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) and the United Development Party (PPP). The Reform Star Party (PBR) and the Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB) support it but are not part of the coalition.

Taufikurrachman Sauri, an expert staff at the Constitutional Court, said the internal conflict in major political parties would not have occurred if they had understood how the direct presidential election worked.

"It is the people who elect the president in a direct election, while political parties merely nominate candidates," he said.