Shadows from the past catch up with Akbar

Endy M. Bayuni, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Despite his cunning as the quintessential political animal, any hopes Akbar Tandjung may have had for winning the 2004 presidential election seem severely crippled, if not completely dashed, by the graft charges finally laid out against him this week.

On Monday, with the announcement by the Attorney General's Office that Akbar is a suspect in a 1999 graft case, doubts have emerged about the political future of Akbar, currently Speaker of the House of Representatives and Chairman of Golkar, the country's second largest political party.

Akbar, along with Vice President Hamzah Haz of the Muslim- based United Development Party (PPP), are the two most seasoned and experienced politicians Indonesia has today.

The fact that they hold top government positions, in spite of their close associations with the past repressive regime of president Soeharto, attests to their political survival instinct.

All other figures at the top levels of the national leadership, including President Megawati Soekarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), are novices when it comes to playing the political games in Indonesia.

Akbar, like Hamzah, have been around far longer than the new breed of politicians that has come to the fore since the reform era in 1998. They know how the game is played, and have used this advantage to carve out a niche for their parties and themselves.

Both Golkar and PPP, the two major political parties of the Soeharto regime, survived the reformation movement, emerging respectively as the second and fourth largest political parties behind PDI Perjuangan at the 1999 general election.

Golkar's ability to survive the reform movement, in spite of its dark past as the ruling party during the 30 years of the notorious Soeharto junta is, in large measure, a monument to Akbar's skills.

Born in Sibolga, North Sumatra on Aug. 14, 1945, Akbar is one of the few present-day political leaders who built his career from the bottom of the ladder.

Starting with his participation in student demonstrations against then-president Sukarno (Megawati's father), he developed his political career, first through his activism at the Islamic Students Association (HMI), the National Youth Committee (KNPI), and later with Golkar.

He was regarded more as a party administrator than a leader, working behind the scenes from Golkar's secretariat. He was part of various Golkar teams that secured president Soeharto's reelection campaigns and Golkar victories in the 1980s and 1990s.

Akbar served as a member of the House of Representatives for Golkar between 1977 and 1988 before he was recruited to the Cabinet by Soeharto as state minister for youth and sports affairs (1988-93); state minister for people's housing (1993-98); and state minister for people's housing and settlement (March to May 1998).

When Soeharto resigned in May 1998, President B.J. Habibie appointed Akbar as secretary of state, again in recognition of his administrative and political skills, rather than his leadership.

That he possesses leadership qualities only emerged in July 1998 when he defeated other candidates in the race for the chairmanship of Golkar, then a widely discredited party because of its association with Soeharto.

Since then, Akbar had proven wrong the cynics who dismissed him as a mere lightweight politician.

He steered Golkar to win the second slot in the 1999 election, even when most polls (discredited since then) were predicting that the party which misruled the country for more 30 years would be crushed by the new more reformist parties.

Akbar later secured himself the speakership of the House of Representatives in October, 1999. This position did not give him enough leverage to secure the election of B.J. Habibie, but was enough to turn him into a kingmaker, cutting the deals here and there that prevented the election of PDI Perjuangan's leader Megawati as president.

The post instead went to Muslim scholar Abdurrahman Wahid whose National Awakening Party (PKB) came third in the election.

With his political support base weak, Gus Dur, as the president is popularly known, was constantly held hostage by the various political power brokers that put him there, particularly Akbar and his Golkar.

Habibie's supporters in Golkar never forgave Akbar for failing to secure the presidency for him but, in retrospect, this worked to Akbar's own advantage, as this effectively made him the most powerful figure in Golkar.

With so much power in his hands, Akbar played a major role in bringing Gus Dur's presidency to a tragic end in July. And when Megawati took the helm, Akbar again secured some Cabinet positions for his Golkar friends.

Akbar has also led the consolidation efforts within Golkar, and these bore fruit with Golkar winning various local elections for governors and regents.

Before the emergence of the graft case against Akbar, things looked so good for Golkar and Akbar that, according to friends, he was beginning to fancy his own chances in the 2004 presidential election.

Although he hardly comes off as the presidential type, he felt that with Golkar growing stronger and that with himself at the helm, he had a good chance against contenders from the other major parties. Such was the case until a few months ago.

The past can be both an asset and a liability. For Akbar, it was just a matter of time before his shadowy past with Golkar and the Soeharto regime would return to haunt him.

The timing for Akbar could not have been more cruel -- just at the point he thought his political career was looking up.

This week, the Attorney General's Office declared Akbar a suspect in the misappropriation of Rp 40 billion of funds belonging to Bulog, the state logistics agency, in his capacity as secretary of state under president Habibie in 1999.

Guilty or not guilty, Buloggate II has already dragged his reputation down so that it is difficult to imagine Akbar surviving this scandal politically unscathed.

True, he still commands the country's second largest political party. But there are enough forces, even within Golkar, who would prefer to see him removed from the political scene altogether.

He can now forget about presidential elections in 2004. He must face a reelection in Golkar this month, and a mounting pressure from within the House and outside, to resign from the speakership.

He may put up a fierce fight, mustering every power he still has, to keep his powerful seats, but, if Gus Dur's tragic experience in fighting off an impeachment process was any lesson, all that Akbar is doing is simply buying time.

A seasoned and astute politician he may be, but he is no Houdini to think that he can escape from the shadows of his own past.