Scholars asked to be fair in campaign
A. Junaidi, Jakarta
Political analysts involved in presidential campaign teams run the risk of damaging their own credibility if they fail to uphold the values of scientific ethics and objective analysis.
"It's their right to be members of campaign teams, but they should remain objective and adhere to their ethics, or the public will not trust them any longer," sociologist Imam B. Prasodjo of the University of Indonesia said.
Imam said that analysts could hold preferences toward certain candidates but they should clearly explain them in terms of similarity in ideology that led to their commitment to the teams.
"The media should also provide background on the analysts, so the public can assess their independence," Imam said. He claims that he maintains the same distance between candidates.
A number of analysts, who are official members of campaign teams, have said that they are simply trying to contribute their knowledge to the teams.
"Besides knowledge, it's also my political choice," said Rizal Sukma, who is a member of the campaign team for National Mandate Party candidates (PAN) Amien Rais and Siswono Yudhohusodo.
Rizal, also a researcher at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said that as a member of the country's second-largest Islamic organization, Muhammadiyah, he was called on to support the candidacy of Amien, who is also a former chairman of Muhammadiyah.
He said he would resume working as a researcher after Sept. 20 -- the scheduled date for a likely runoff of the presidential election -- whatever the result.
Several other intellectuals are supporting the Amien-Siswono team, including Jefri Geovanie and Din Syamsuddin.
Some analysts are also involved in the campaign team of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) candidates incumbent president Megawati Soekarnoputri and Hasyim Muzadi.
Rizal Mallarangeng of the Freedom Institute is reportedly in Megawati's team but he denied being involved, saying that he was only supporting his friends.
A similar denial was also voiced by political analyst Denny JA, who was reportedly supporting Democratic Party candidates Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla. Denny and his researcher colleagues say that the findings of their Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), that Susilo tops the opinion polls, are based on rigid methodology.
The involvement of scholars in supporting political figures has also occurred in the past.
In the 1960s, many leftist intellectuals and artists, including Sobron Aidit and Pramoedya Ananta Toer, grouped together under Lekra, the arts wing of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which helped spread revolutionary ideas of the country's first president, Sukarno.
In the beginning of the New Order regime, the CSIS was founded, among others, by close aides of then president Soeharto such as Soedjono Hoemardani and Ali Moertopo, and was often referred to as the think thank of that regime.
Towards the end of the 1990s, Soeharto sought support from scholars of the Association of Indonesian Muslim Intellectuals (ICMI) chaired by his eventual successor, B.J. Habibie.