The PDI predicament
When Megawati Soekarnoputri, the eldest daughter of this nation's first president, Sukarno, was elected to the chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) in a chaotic, yet democratic, party congress last year in Surabaya, East Java, many observers predicted she would soon be overwhelmed by "problems".
She certainly has been.
The party, notorious for its internal conflicts over the last two decades, began as a government-sponsored merger in 1971 between nationalist and Christian parties. Since its birth it has practically never been free of political squabbles, particularly within the former nationalist party (PNI) faction.
Obviously, Megawati's legacy, as a daughter of Sukarno, who was the founder of PNI in the late 1920s, has fallen short of stopping party members from rebelling against her.
Following another chaotic election in PDI's East Java chapter, rebel members have set up their own self-styled provincial chairmanship under Latief Pudjasakti. With the backing of East Java Governor Basofi Sudirman, Latief succeeded in defending his chairmanship against disciplinary measures taken by Megawati. Earlier this week, Latief went as far as to organize a small rally to demand the resignation of Megawati.
Meanwhile, apparently encouraged by the government's conspicuously dubious decision to "let PDI settle its own internal conflicts", anti-Megawati elements in several party chapters and branches have set up rival leaderships. And a member of the PDI executive board, dismissed on the basis of indiscipline, has even joined the rebel camp.
One could easily surmise that what has happened to PDI is simply what happens to any organization whose leadership is not in concordance with the government's wishes, or which has lost the government's favor. It is no secret that the government was not happy when Megawati, against all odds, was elected to chair PDI.
Some observers believe that certain officials may be alarmed by the growing popularity of PDI among the younger generation. And it has been deemed possible that under Megawati's leadership, PDI could further dent the strength of the government-backed Golkar in the coming election.
Thus, one cannot easily shed the notion that somehow there is some sort of involvement by officials behind all these problems of PDI, in the sense that the turmoil is perhaps being orchestrated in order to weaken the party. The East Java governor's continued backing of Latief, who has been dismissed by PDI's executive board, for example, has given the impression that somehow the government wants to hold open the option of meddling in PDI's internal affairs.
What is most saddening is that this has been done under the pretext that it is in accordance with the existing law that a governor, and subsequently the home affairs minister, function as the "supervisors" of domestic politics.
No wonder, given the current political situation, many observers are pessimistic about the future of the political parties and organizations in this country. There are just too many hurdles, either in the form of laws, or covert interference, to enable them to perform as truly independent political entities.
The root of the problem, of course, lies in just how far the government will go in allowing the political parties to function as such, or at what speed it will let the democratization process proceed.
As we will be entering the next millennium soon, with the prospect of global free trade looming high in the sky, one could expect that a new spirit of political openness would be in order. We believe that economic liberalization cannot work without political freedom.
All in all, with regard to the PDI problem, as long as those officials continue to meddle in PDI's internal affairs, or fail to take a clear stance, recognizing only Megawati's leadership, thus discouraging anti-Megawati elements, one cannot expect to see PDI free of "problems". The situation may even get worse.