Survey shows Golkar conventions a ruse

M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Over 40 percent of respondents in five major cities in Indonesia stated that the national convention series being held by Golkar to select its presidential candidate was merely a ploy to boost the party's tainted image, according to a survey released on Monday.

The survey, conducted by the Center for Electoral Reform (CETRO), involved 946 respondents from five major cities; Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan, Makassar and Pontianak. It also revealed that 73 percent of respondents perceived the convention as undemocratic because it only allowed a number of party officials to take part.

Some 57 percent of the respondents also said that the party chairman Akbar Tandjung should not have been allowed to take part in the convention because of his legal problems.

Akbar has been convicted and sentenced to three years in jail for misusing state funds intended to feed the poor when he was the state secretary during the 17-month administration of president B.J. Habibie between 1998 and 1999. He is currently waiting for a Supreme Court decision over his appeal.

"He (Akbar) also should not have been allowed to take part in the nomination process given his position as the party chairman," the survey results indicated.

Executive Director of CETRO, Smita Notosusanto said on Monday that the survey results indicated that respondents were split over how to view the Golkar convention process because many did not know much about it.

"The survey was conducted when there was adequate reporting from the media on the initial stage of the convention, but unfortunately what the people know about it is merely about the candidates," she said during a press briefing on Monday.

She said that most of the respondents had no idea about what was actually going on.

From July 2003 through February next year, Golkar has been and will continue to hold a series of conventions from time to time in different parts of the country to finally decide on its presidential and vice-presidential candidates who will represent the party in the 2004 election.

Several figures, including media tycoon Surya Paloh, Gen. (ret.) Wiranto and the former chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo Subianto, Yogyakarta governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, have decided to vie for the top spot during the process.

Respected Muslim scholar Nurcholis Madjid had earlier agreed to join Golkar's nomination competition, but dropped his bid after he deemed some of the procedures allowed as unfair.

The convention series was conceived after the House's approval of the presidential election bill, which allows a convicted criminal to run for president, provided that the sentence is less than five years.

Political analysts have earlier said that the Golkar convention was only a move to divert attention from the legal problems dogging chairman Akbar Tandjung, and thus might serve merely as a vehicle to secure his nomination for president.