Survey shows Golkar conventions a ruse

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.