Ruling Golkar warned of political blunders

JAKARTA (JP): Members of Golkar, the ruling political organization, have been advised to watch their step so as not to make any political errors in the run-up to the 1997 election.

"Be thoughtful in making decisions on economic and political matters so as not to make blunders," said Siswono Yudohusodo, a member of Golkar's powerful board of patrons.

Siswono, who is better-known as minister of transmigration and resettlement of forest squatters, gave his warning when addressing Golkar members in the West Nusa Tenggara capital of Mataram on Saturday.

As the general election is only about eight months away, Golkar members in the bureaucracy should act carefully so not to tarnish the dominant organization's image, he warned.

Golkar will contest 425 seats in the House of Representatives next year with its rivals, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

The government has yet to set the date for the election but it is scheduled to take place either in May or June next year.

Golkar hopes to increase its domination of the House by at least five percent to 73 percent. Currently, Golkar has 282 seats, PPP 62 and PDI 56. The remaining 100 are reserved for the Armed Forces. But as of next year their allocation will be reduced to 75.

Siswono said Golkar should be able to recoup the 16 seats it lost to the PDI and one to the PPP in the 1992 general election.

"Increasing the number of our seats by five percent will be no easy job. It needs hard work," he said at the gathering, also attended by West Nusa Tenggara Governor Warsito.

In the course of the next eight months, he said, Golkar officials should work to win people's sympathy and should never hurt people's feelings.

Golkar cadres should do this by doing concrete work," he was quoted as saying by the Antara news agency.

Siswono said the political climate at present is more tense than that in the same period five years ago.

"There is a party which is trying to shake national stability by building 'people's power'," he said. "Golkar should be vigilant of any force, however small it may be, that aims to rock the boat."

Siswono did not name the party. It is understood that the government has suspected the ousted leader of PDI, Megawati Soekarnoputri, of trying to mobilize the so-called "people's power".

Although the government has been able to suppress attempts to undermine the nation's political stability, efforts to revive them will never die, he warned. (pan)