Senior PDI Perjuangan members doubt party's chance of winning 2004 election

Senior PDI Perjuangan members doubt party's chance of winning 2004 election

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With public criticism mounting and defections in the country's
ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan),
senior party members have warned that the party might face a
sharp slide in support in the 2004 general election.

Wavering public support and internal cracks are undermining
the party's chances of winning the election again, they warned.

"I believe during the upcoming election many supporters at the
grassroots level will abandon the party," said long-time PDI
Perjuangan member Mochtar Buchori on Wednesday.

"Look at Bali, East and Central Java, they used to be PDI
Perjuangan strongholds, but not anymore."

Mochtar doubted the party could secure a 34 percent share of
votes as it did in the 1999 election. He said he heard pessimists
estimating 15 percent while others estimate 22 percent.

As PDI Perjuangan chairwoman President Megawati Soekarnoputri
enters her second year in power, protests against her and the
party are mounting.

Charges rest on Megawati's political interests taking center
stage at the expense of political, legal and economic reforms.

Corruption has become endemic and Megawati's government is
seen as caring little about it. Earlier this month she ordered
her party to block a probe into graft allegations against House
Speaker Akbar Tandjung.

Neither Megawati nor her party felt it necessary to explain
the move other than that they believed in the justice system.

Last year her party showed no qualms about investigating then
President Abdurrahman Wahid over similar charges -- moves that
eventually led to Megawati securing the presidency.

Now PDI Perjuangan supporters feel betrayed after Megawati
told her party to back Sutiyoso for another five-year term as
Jakarta's Governor.

Many suspect Sutiyoso masterminded the bloody attack against
PDI headquarters in 1996, when he was the Jakarta military
commander. Members of her party have openly rejected Sutiyoso's
nomination in defiance of her instruction.

"She let down the people with her interference in the
Buloggate case and her support for Sutiyoso," said Mochtar,
referring to Akbar's case.

Critics have also charged that Megawati maintains too close a
relationship with the military, another slap in the face for the
1998 reform movement.

Unlike Abdurrahman Wahid's administration, they said the
current one was treating the military as a political force
instead an institution it must regulate.

"Megawati once said she was against militarism," said Aberson
Marle Sihaloho, another senior PDI Perjuangan member.

But if she continues to care more for her political interests
rather than the public's, people will not vote for her again, he
said.

He warned that PDI Perjuangan may face extinction given its
poor performance in heeding the aspirations of the common people.

Already a number of leading members have defected from the
party, some of whom have founded new parties with which they hope
to woo other disenchanted PDI Perjuangan members.

PDI Perjuangan member Abdul Madjid added that cracks had
appeared within the party because of talks to amend the 1945
Constitution. He said the party was divided over whether or not
to continue with the current amendment process.

"The disagreements are deep and concern members'
principles ... when it comes to emotional issues it is hard to
seek common ground," Abdul said.

According to him, the internal dispute could damage the
party's unity and places Megawati in a dilemma. "She cannot
please both sides, one will eventually feel left behind by
Megawati," he said.

Another senior party member, Pataniari Siahaan said, however,
that public support was still high and that media reports showing
the opposite were misleading.