Spat among Sukarno's daughters regrettable: Expert

Spat among Sukarno's daughters regrettable: Expert

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The candidacy of three daughters of founding president Sukarno in
the 2004 elections would be more appreciated if they stood as a
single political force carrying Sukarno's nationalist principles,
an observer said on Saturday.

Cornelis Lay of Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University said a
coalition party combining Megawati Soekarnoputri's Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Rachmawati Soekarnoputri's
Pioneers' Party and Sukmawati Soekarnoputri's Marhaenisme
Indonesian National Party (PNI Marhaenisme) would unite all
supporters of nationalist principles and would emerge as a
serious contender in next year's elections.

"They would represent all groups that are now divided by their
perception of Sukarno's teachings, ranging from the conservative
as represented by Rachmawati's party to the less radical
supporters represented by the PDI-P." he said.

Cornelis said the rivalry among the daughters would make it
impossible for them to enter into a possible coalition.

"The rivalry will not be a threat at all to the country,
however, as it would not provoke clashes among the supporters of
the three parties," said Cornelis, who is also a member of
Megawati's think tank.

The PDI-P, Pioneers' Party and PNI Marhaenisme will contest
the 2004 elections along with 21 other verified parties.

Each of the three sisters claims to have the correct
understanding of Sukarno's principles of nationalism and are
using the grassroots' admiration for Indonesia's founding father
to win support.

Rachmawati has been a staunch critic of the Megawati
administration and has built solid ties with National Awakening
Party (PKB) cofounder Abdurrahman Wahid, who was replaced by his
deputy Megawati after the People's Consultative Assembly
impeached him in July 2001.

Marhaenism is Sukarno's term for peasant in the country, whom
he claimed to be the main supporters of his principles.

Cornelis said among Sukarno's daughters, Megawati was the only
one who already had established political support at the grass
roots.

"The other two are simply seeking acknowledgement that they
are also Sukarno's daughters," Cornelis said.

Other experts dismissed as a non-issue the presence of
Sukarno's daughters in the 2004 elections, saying that their
emergence did not represent a revival of Sukarno's teachings.

Underlining the fact that none of the three daughters had the
capacity or ability that came anywhere near their father's, the
experts said that their presence would not have any impact on the
political life of the country.

"Their presence (in the upcoming elections) is not an issue at
all," said political observer Arbi Sanit of the University of
Indonesia.

However, according to Arbi, none of three Sukarno daughters
fully understood the teachings of Sukarno "so people should just
ignore the fact they lead different political parties that will
contest the next elections."

"Their presence will have no impact at all to the political
arena in the country, people might as well ignore them," Arbi
said.

Senior politician from Megawati's party PDI-P Muchtar Buchori
said that none of the daughters really understood their father's
principles.

"None of them have the ability to revitalize these teachings
in a more meaningful way for the country and we have gotten over
the personality cult of Sukarno," Muchtar said.

Indonesia will hold its legislative election in April 2004 and
its direct presidential election in July. If the first round of
the presidential election fail to produce a clear winner, a
second round is to be held in September 2004 to choose between
the two candidates who garnered the most votes in the first
round.