Scholars attack government for favoring ruling Golkar
Scholars attack government for favoring ruling Golkar
JAKARTA (JP): Two intellectuals slammed the government
yesterday for favoring Golkar and "marginalizing" the other two
political parties, despite legal guarantees for equal treatment
of the three organizations.
Djohar Noor and Riswandha Imawan said that Golkar, the United
Development Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI)
should receive equal treatment because they share the same, sole
principle: the state ideology Pancasila.
Djohar, a lecturer at Semarang's Diponegoro University, told
The Jakarta Post that the government required all political
organizations to adopt Pancasila as their common principle.
"It would be good if the government had some PPP and PDI
figures in the bureaucracy," he said. "Who knows, they could
contribute to solving acute problems such as corruption,
collusion and foreign debt."
Riswanda, a political scholar from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada
University, said it was good that, finally, the long-standing
marginalization of political parties has been brought out into
the open.
"The process has been going on for many years and it's
fortunate that people now openly discuss it," he said.
The polemic on the marginalization of PPP and PDI was started
by PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum last week. He said the two
parties have been sidelined in the face of a political system
dominated by Golkar.
Djohar pointed out that in an obvious sign of its favoritism
of Golkar, the government has provided Golkar with enormous
communication access.
He did not elaborate but it is common knowledge that in the
evenings, the news broadcasted by the state-owned television
station, TVRI, which is relayed by private stations, shows Golkar
chairman Harmoko in his yellow fatigues meeting with activists in
the provinces.
In a related development, Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie
S.M. urged the media to stop harping on his recent statement in
which he called Ismail Hasan "sick" for alleging that the
bureaucracy sidelines the PPP (and PDI).
"No, no. Stop asking me questions," an irritated Yogie said as
he briskly got into his waiting car, when journalists chased him
for comments on a demand by PPP officials for his apology
regarding his remark.
Yogie looked up from the back seat of his Volvo and murmured,
"You said it," when a reporter shouted, "As the patron of
domestic political development, are you sick, too?"
On a separate occasion, Ismail Hasan said that Yogie should
have used "other words, which are not "offensive." (pan)