'Three parties back my election bid'

'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.