'Three parties back my election bid'

Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Noted Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid asserted on Sunday that three political parties had thrown their weight behind his presidential bid in the 2004 elections.

He claimed his supporters were mostly young intellectuals and that he had established networks in at least 22 of the country's 32 provinces, including the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, where government troops are fighting against the decades-long separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM). He expressed optimism that this network would inspire the nation to revive.

Nurcholish, popularly known as Cak Nur, explained that, "At least three political parties representing a rainbow coalition have pledged to support me in the presidential elections in 2004.

"But since verification by KPU is not yet completed, we cannot reveal the names of those political parties now."

The National Elections Commission (KPU) is currently conducting the administrative verification of 40 of 50 political parties, to determine whether or not they meet the criteria to contest in the 2004 elections, when the country holds the first ever direct presidential election.

Ten others have either been verified or are exempt from the process, since they passed the two-percent electoral threshold in the 1999 elections.

Under the existing election law, only parties that have offices in two-thirds of the country's provinces and in two- thirds of regencies or municipalities in those provinces, will be allowed to contest in the elections.

Cak Nur pledged to officially declare the names of the three parties in December, when KPU is expected to finish the verification process.

Only political parties may field presidential candidates in 2004.

In July, Cak Nur announced his withdrawal from the Golkar convention to select presidential candidates after party chairman Akbar Tandjung decided to participate in the race, despite opposition that the later's participation could spark a conflict of interests and make the convention process unfair.

Cak Nur, currently rector of Jakarta-based Paramadina Mulya University, said the allegations of rampant money politics involving Golkar members were also behind his withdrawal from the Golkar convention.

Despite a decision to leave the Golkar Party behind as his political vehicle, Cak Nur said he would continue with his presidential ambition and claimed that several senior political party leaders, including Arifin Panigoro from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, Alwi Shihab and Saifullah Yusuf of the National Awakening Party and Bachtiar Chamsyah of the United Development Party, support him.

"It is impossible for me to contest in the elections without the support of political parties," Cak Nur said, referring to the presidential election law that rules out the possibility of independent candidates contesting the elections.