UMNO, Golkar youth to join hands

By David Chew

SINGAPORE (JP): The youth movements of the dominant parties of Malaysia and Indonesia recently met to formulate common long-term strategies to propel their respective countries into the ranks of developed nations in the next century.

Young members of Malaysia's United Malays National Organization (UMNO) and Indonesia's Golkar known as the Angkatan Muda Pembaharuan Indonesia (AMPI) met from June 30 to July 3 in the south Malaysian city of Johor Baru with the blessing of their respective parent parties.

UMNO Youth's 300 and AMPI's 70 representatives comprising businesspeople, academics, bureaucrats and full-time party workers identified challenges and opportunities in the Asia- Pacific basin in the 21st century, and discussed how best the former could be tackled and the latter tapped.

Both parties believe their countries have the potential to play a key role in the Asia-Pacific region because of their sizable populations (Indonesia has 200 million people and Malaysia nearly 20 million), abundant natural resources, level of technology and favorable geographical location in one of the world's busiest crossroads.

These are underpinned by the political stability (relative to the turmoil in other parts of the world) both countries have enjoyed in nearly 40 years that their dominant parties have been in power.

It was the fourth in a series of meetings which began in 1992 in Ancol, Jakarta with AMPI playing host. It was UMNO's turn to host their second meeting in Penang in 1993. AMPI played host to their third meeting in Lampung, Sumatra in 1995.

UMNO youth were represented by its president, businessman Datuk Zahid Hamidi and deputy president Datuk Hishammuddin Hussein, the parliamentary secretary to the Malaysian International Trade Ministry. AMPI was led by its chairman Bambang Indra Utoyo, a MP and deputy Hendry Indra Utama.

Cabinet ministers from both countries were invited to address the meeting, which unlike other formal government meetings, had no rigid agenda. According to Datuk Hishammuddin, the meeting constituted informal dialog sessions where delegates were free to speak their minds on issues affecting both countries.

In the exchange of views conducted in Bahasa, the common language of both countries, Datuk Zahid made his guests feel at home by peppering his speech with Indonesian words.

Both parties worked on the premise that they were peoples from the same Malay stock speaking a common language, Bahasa and professing a common religion, Islam. Thus the main issue to emerge from the discussions predictably concerned the definition of the term "indigenous". UMNO called it bumiputra while AMPI referred to it as pribumi.

Delegates from both sides focused on their common history of a glorious Malay empire in Southeast Asia which at various epochs featured Sriwijaya, Majapahit and Malacca. Their common bond was split by European colonialism into British (Malaysia) and Dutch (Indonesia), spheres of influence from the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1824.

But with the demise of colonialism in the 20th century, and political power returned to the indigenous peoples, it was time to revive the close bond of the golden era of Malay empires and see how best it could be used to enhance their cooperation.

In separate interviews, Datuk Hishammuddin and Bambang said UMNO and AMPI exchanged views on affirmative action. European colonialism meant both countries had lost their traditional dominance in the economies of their respective countries. They are now anxious to restore it.

AMPI was interested in Malaysia's New Economic Policy, according to Datuk Hishammuddin. The NEP (1971-1990) succeeded in raising the Malay share of Malaysia's corporate sector from a negligible 2 percent in 1970 to an impressive 22 percent in 1990, in addition to creating a Malay middle and professional class with many Malay millionaires in their midst. The Chinese, who make up 30 percent of Malaysia's population, still control about 35 percent of its corporate sector.

Bambang said AMPI would like to see how the NEP could be applied in Indonesia's case where ethnic Chinese who comprised a mere 3 percent of the population owned a disproportionate share of the economy. "We would not like a situation where affirmative action deprives the Chinese of their wealth as this is bad for the country as a whole," he said.

Bambang reiterated an earlier contention by Indonesian Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman, saying close cooperation between pribumi and ethnic Chinese businesspeople was necessary for the smooth functioning of the Indonesian economy.

Both sides agreed that close business ties and networking among Chinese businesspeople in the Asia-Pacific region was something the bumiputra/pribumi should learn to achieve the same level of success.

In his speech Dr Ibrahim Saad, deputy minister in the Malaysian Prime Minister's Department, said that Malaysia and Indonesia could not fully mimic the success of the five dragons -- Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore -- because their Malay values differed from the Confucianist values of these countries.

It would be better for Malaysia and Indonesia to strive for bumiputra/pribumi control success based on their own strengths and values and use their own symbols of success. "We must not be the 'sixth dragon' but rather the 'first Garuda' or the 'first tiger' of the Asia-Pacific," Dr Ibrahim said. The Garuda bird is a symbol of Malay/Indonesian culture in the same way that the dragon symbolizes the culture of the Far East while the tiger is associated with Malaysia and Indonesia.

The dialogs also revealed the different ways in which bumiputra/pribumi was defined by both sides. UMNO focused on Islam as the major criterion for bumiputraism, based on the constitutional definition of a Malay being a Moslem, speaking Bahasa and practicing Malay culture.

AMPI, on the other hand, said that a pribumi in Indonesia need not necessarily be a Moslem so long as he is indigenous to Indonesia. AMPI delegates said that although 90 percent of Indonesians are Moslems, there are also significant Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minorities. Indonesia's national ideology, Pancasila gives equal treatment to all religions.

But UMNO and AMPI have not allowed these differences to mar the success of their latest meeting which resulted in the signing of 10 memoranda of understanding. They feel that so long as the term bumiputra/pribumi is flexibly defined to accommodate differences, there shouldn't be any obstacles toward creating common bonds to meet the growing challenges and tap the growing opportunities of the Asia-Pacific basin in the 21st century.

The landslide victories of UMNO and Golkar in their last general election respectively in Malaysia (1995) and Indonesia (1997) served as massive mandates for AMPI to strengthen bilateral ties in the wider context of unity in ASEAN.

"Since UMNO and Golkar will in power for the next 20 to 50 years, it is logical for their youth movements to start meeting now," said Bambang.

The writer is a freelance journalist based in Singapore.

Window: The landslide victories of UMNO and Golkar in their last general election respectively in Malaysia (1995) and Indonesia (1997) served as massive mandates for AMPI to strengthen bilateral ties in the wider context of unity in ASEAN.