Rifts widen in Golkar, PDI-P

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.