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.