UMNO, Golkar youth to join hands

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.