The Golkar tragedy

The Golkar tragedy

Golkar's admission on Saturday that "it was all a mistake"
must qualify as the biggest understatement of the century. Golkar
leaders seem to have only just grasped what many thinking people
in this country have known for decades, that the way the
political organization ruled the country under former president
Soeharto, chiefly through the use of force and oppression, was
all a tragic mistake.

It is one thing for Golkar to admit its mistake, but quite
another to act on it. All indications from the Golkar congress
which ended in Jakarta on Monday suggest that Golkar has no
intention of apologizing for that mistake, saying that the
present Golkar leadership has made a clean break from the past.
Somewhat arrogantly, one Golkar leader even said the mistake of
the New Order government was the responsibility of the whole
nation for failing to prevent the misrule. He argued that
everyone, and not only Golkar, should seek forgiveness from God
for that mistake. To add insult to injury, Golkar announced its
intention of winning next year's general election.

Golkar was part and parcel of that bygone era we know as the
New Order regime under president Soeharto. It was a period of
unimpeded oppression, deception, corruption and nepotism that
went on for more than three decades. Golkar was not only a
political machine that propped up Soeharto, it also became a
vehicle for many corrupt leaders to achieve their own ambitions
of attaining power and wealth. Soeharto has now gone and the
nation is paying a heavy price for his uninterrupted misrule.

When Soeharto stepped down, he did not take Golkar with him.
To prevent the nation from plunging into anarchy there was an
unwritten agreement among the reformists that B.J. Habibie would
take up the presidency, and that Golkar would continue to
dominate both the House of Representatives and the People's
Consultative Assembly to see the nation through the initial
reform process and set it on the road to becoming a democratic
country. Habibie and Golkar therefore are ruling by default, and
not by popular choice. They should not abuse the trust invested
in them, or else they will face the same popular revolt that
befell their old master Soeharto.

The last thing this nation needs is for Golkar to end up
running the country again. This is the political organization
that conspired with various other elements in the New Order
regime to deny the people their basic rights. This is the same
institution that has twisted and corrupted the 1945 Constitution
and the Pancasila ideology for its own ends, and conveniently
called those opposing or even criticizing it unconstitutional and
anti-Pancasila. Many people were killed or jailed as a result.
This is the same group that has justified any means to sustain
its power. This is the organization that rejected demands for
reforms until the last minute before Soeharto stepped down.

Now Golkar has not only refused to apologize for these
mistakes, it is even proclaiming its intention to stay in power.
It is difficult to accept how an institution with such a
tarnished record in administering the nation should be entrusted
with the same task again. If its recent behavior is anything to
go by, then Golkar is far from reformed. Its leaders' decision to
replace many of its "proreform" representatives in both the upper
and lower houses shows that the organization is still indulging
in old repressive practices. It is also apparent that Golkar is
using its dominant position in the House to slow down or derail
the reform process.

Given that it has not reformed itself, it is a frightening
thought that Golkar intends to stay in power beyond the general
election. It is a clear and present danger which the nation must
deal with, more so than the so-called latent danger of a
communist comeback, a common carry-over practice from the New
Order to intimidate people or to search for a scapegoat for
things that go wrong in this country.

Given the mistakes it had made, the most honorable thing for
Golkar to do would be to dissolve itself as an institution, and
let its representatives still serving in both the upper and lower
houses complete their tasks until the election next year. Failure
to rectify its mistake will only store up even more hatred among
the people, and Golkar will have to face the consequence, a major
backlash. If that happens, the entire nation will end up
suffering all over again.