Scholars asked to be fair in campaign
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.