The poor need food, politicians parties

On Nov. 3, 1945, a few months after the chains of colonial rule were broken, vice president Mohammad Hatta issued a decree, Maklumat X/1945, that encouraged citizens to set up parties in the run-up to the country's first general election, which was held in 1955. The fervor that followed resulted in 36 parties contesting that election. History has come round full circle as we now have 56 parties. The Jakarta Post looks at this phenomena, which has confused the many people who think new parties should not be the main priority in this time of crisis.

JAKARTA (JP): The result of a recent poll conducted by the University of Indonesia makes it vividly clear what people require. People urgently need essential commodities, not new political parties.

The 4,980 respondents in 10 major cities selected by the university's Institute for Business Ethics Studies and Development say they want to see food prices go down, not new parties mushroom.

Yet, intoxicated by the unprecedented freedom of expression and assembly that president Soeharto's downfall brought about, politicians can't stop founding parties.

As of yesterday, at least 56 new political parties have come into being. All promise democracy while their potential voters are struggling to survive the economic calamity which has shown no signs of abating.

Their number is expected to rise because starting a political party has turned out to be easy. All one needs to do is call a media conference and have the party's name listed at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Meanwhile, the government is preparing a bill stating conditions that a political party should meet to qualify for participation in the general election scheduled for May next year. Until then, it will neither recognize nor ban any party.

"Everyone is free to start a party as long as they make (the state ideology) Pancasila and the 1945 Constitution their principle," President BJ Habibie recently said. "Besides that, a party ought to be open to anyone regardless of their racial, religious or social backgrounds."

Even if Habibie had not made the encouraging statement, there would be no force effective enough to suppress people's desire to set up parties even though the old unpopular law recognizing only three parties -- the United Development Party (PPP), Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) -- is still in force.

Some new parties are, in fact, not really new.

For instance, the Indonesian National Party (PNI), Murba Party and Indonesian Syarikat Islam Party (PSII) are old parties revived with a "spirit of reform".

PNI and Murba together with other nationalist and Christian parties were fused into PDI, and PSII along with other Islamic parties into PPP in 1973 when president Soeharto pared down a dozen parties into three in a move to tighten his grip on the political system.

Of the 56 new parties, only a few are generally considered "serious" with strong potential grassroots support. The People's Mandate Party (PAB) founded by Amien Rais and the People's Awakening Party (PKB) by Abdurrahman Wahid are considered the most serious.

Amien is the highly influential reformist chief of the 28- million-strong Muhammadiyah while charismatic Abdurrahman heads the 30-million-member Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) which has its strongest basis in traditionalist rural Moslem communities.

Both Amien's and Abdurrahman's parties have pledged to become "open" parties and have received support from non-Moslem and nationalist figures alike.

The Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union Party founded by independent labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan, Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI) by Soeharto's foe Sri Bintang Pamungkas and Moon and Star Party by Moslem propagators are also believed to have potentially strong support.

The government's advice that a new party should not be discriminatory in nature has not been entirely heeded.

Chinese-Indonesian politicians who are dismayed by discrimination against the ethnic Chinese have come up with the Chinese-Indonesian Reform Party. Led by Lius Sangkaharisma, its leaders have brushed aside fears that the party, which aims at seeking an end to racial discrimination, would only aggravate anti-Chinese sentiment.

The Indonesian Women's Party, Indonesian Muslimin Party, Indonesian Islamic Party and Indonesian Christian Party are other instances of discriminatory parties that may have to choose another name or merge with other parties when the law is passed.

Some politicians buoyed by Soeharto's downfall have given their parties names that are close to frivolousness, although they may not mean to joke. Welcome these: Neighborhood Party (Partai RT & RW) and the Poor People's Party. In Medan, bus drivers overjoyed with Soeharto's downfall set up the Indonesian Drivers Party.

A group of politicians disappointed by the government's eagerness to exploit eastern provinces' natural wealth but reluctance to develop the area founded the Eastern Indonesia Party on June 6.

"We don't want to campaign for separatism but to seek treatment for the eastern provinces equal to that of other provinces," the party's chief Bert A. Supit says.

But for some politicians, the name does matter. Just a day after veteran nationalist leader Mrs. Soepeni introduced her PNI, unknown Bachtiar Oseha Chalik declared the establishment of his own party bearing the same name.

PNI was created by independence proclaimer Sukarno, who became Indonesia's first president. Both Soepeni and Bachtiar claim their party is Sukarno's true inheritance.

Now, Indonesia also has two republican parties, the Republic Party and Indonesian Republic Party, founded by obscure politicians H.A. Yani Wahid and Mangatas respectively.

The wind of change has prompted Moslem leaders, who often accused the Soeharto government of marginalizing the Moslem majority, to establish their own parties, which they like to describe as "nationalistic, open parties with an Islamic spirit".

There have been at least 12 such parties established recently. Although most of them do not explicitly use such terms like Moslem or Islam, their executives are all Moslems and their agenda largely Moslem-oriented.

The People's Awakening Party, Moon and Star Party, People's Mandate Party, National Solidarity Union Party, Masyumi, the Indonesian Moslem Party, Nahdlatul Ulama Youth Party and PSII are to mention but a few.

Moon and Star Party chairman Yusril Ihza Mahendra has denied allegations that his party will be waging a campaign to turn Indonesia into an Islamic state.

He says the party only wants to run a government which applies Islamic values.

Observers say the many Moslem parties should be seen as a sign that Islamic fundamentalism is not a threat to Indonesia because the believers are segmented into different political loyalties.

It is also generally believed that the nationalists' stake is necessary to counterbalance the growing popularity of Megawati Soekarnoputri, a popular leader of the nationalist, secular Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), which has been riddled with internal bickering.

The proliferation of political parties has raised concerns over the possibility of bitter rivalry among the various groups in society, as happened in the 1955 general election.

"It is possible that the same old sad story will be repeated," political observer Indria Samego told journalists recently.

But more liberal people say that the great number is nothing to worry about because it will naturally become proportional when the parties fight for seats in the House of Representatives next year.

And the new party list is expected to go on. (pan)