Ruling Golkar active ahead of 1997 election

Ruling Golkar active ahead of 1997 election

By Santi W.E. Soekanto

JAKARTA (JP): This passing year witnessed a transformation in the political scene, affecting all three political groupings-- Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP), and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

The ruling Golkar group has not only intensified cadre meetings, which critics said smacked of electioneering, but also wrested from PPP and PDI their political "commodities".

Chairman Harmoko used all of his charm to persuade the public that Golkar is a political grouping for the poor and the common people, a line which has been used by PDI.

Harmoko has done his best to attract young people, offering them scholarships and even a piggyback ride for some students. He also attempted to convince them that Golkar meets their aspiration. In 1992, the PDI catchword during election rallies was "PDI, the party of the young".

Harmoko also embraced Moslem groups, visited and said his prayers together with ulemas, as well as conducted his annual safari during Ramadhan, the holy fasting month. Now, PPP is no longer able to claim it is the sole "Islamic party", especially after it declared that it was an open party and could receive membership from any religious background.

In short, Golkar has waged an all-out campaign to prepare itself for the 1997 elections. Harmoko has even declared that Golkar was "raring and impatient" to compete in the election.

In contrast, PPP and PDI have been spending the better part of 1995 in internal squabbling.

However, transformations also took place in the two minority parties.

The traditionally docile PPP, under the leadership of Ismail Hasan Metareum, entered the final quarter of the year by becoming more outspoken and critical of government policies which it considered harmful to the party's chances at general elections.

During a leadership meeting in November, for instance, PPP threatened to sue the government should violations still occur in the 1997 elections.

Still beset by frictions over some regional leadership and troubled by charges of past communist links, PDI, under the leadership of Megawati Soekarnoputri, appeared to be more subdued.

Some of its prominent members remained outspoken, especially regarding cheating and other unfair practices during elections.

Overall, PDI leadership appeared to have chosen to wage a "silent campaign" with Megawati dutifully meeting supporters in less-publicized trips.

Different though their tactics may be, the three groupings have been definitely gearing up for the next general elections.

The so-called "fiesta of democracy" may still be two years away, but the parties have already been asked to draw up the lists of their candidates and submit them to the Central Committee for General Elections next August.

It had not been a plain sailing for Golkar in 1995 although it weathered all storms.

Golkar's standing was only slightly dented when the public decried its decision to dismiss outspoken legislator Bambang Warih Koesoema, or when reports about the involvement of Golkar executive Moestahid Astari in a land dispute in Surabaya surfaced.

It remained strong even when chairman Harmoko was criticized for playfully slipping up on his reading of a Koranic verse during a traditional puppet show.

PPP had its share of criticism when it dismissed outspoken member Sri Bintang Pamungkas.

Observers have pointed out the similarity of the two sacked legislators. Bambang is known for a number of his whistle-blowing tactics and for his disclosure of a major bad debt scandal involving a business tycoon last year. Bintang is also known for his critical statements about the government, the party executives, and the military.

The dismissal of the two men provoked harsh reactions from the public, with some observers saying the action smacked of "political violence".

In April, Bintang was suspected of involvement in anti- Indonesian demonstrations staged in the German cities of Hannover and Dresden during President Soeharto's visit there.

The two dismissals also spurred a lively constitutional debate about who the DPR member really represent -- the people or the political organizations that appoint them. The government and Golkar insisted that a DPR member should be able to represent both at the same time.

Some examples of PPP preoccupation with its internal problems occurred earlier this year when a number of its provincial branches failed to hold leadership elections during their meetings.

The Jakarta branch, for instance, underwent a period when it had two chairmen holding different meetings in the same building.

In the meantime, PDI has yet to resolve the wrangling over chairmanship of the East Java regional branch between the camps of Sutjipto and Latief Pudjosakti.

To make things worse, a new group recently emerged, dashing hopes of an early resolution, which PDI desperately needs to prepare itself for the 1997 general election.

Sutjipto has the backing of chairperson Megawati Soekarnoputri while Latief has the backing of the East Java provincial administration, The third group, led by little-known Taufik Achwan, claimed that the only way out of the impasse is to compromise, giving the chairmanship to neither Latief or Sutjipto but to a third person, which some take to mean Achwan himself.

In April, the government announced a plan to reduce the number of seats allotted to the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction at the House of Representatives, from 100 to 75. Observers said the move reflected greater effort of democratization, while others said it would not affect the strong political role of ABRI.

"It's the quality, rather than quantity, that counts," said Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman.

Golkar closes the year with an announcement that it will replace 60 percent, or 170, of its 282 legislators at the House of Representatives (DPR) with younger cadres.

This will mean that some of the most outstanding figures of the grouping, including current House Speaker Wahono, Arnold Baramuli, Oka Mahendra, Novyan Kaman, Ismael Hasan and Jacob Tobing will have to say goodbye to the DPR.