Who is Golkar fooling?

When Nurcholish Madjid announced last week that he was withdrawing from the Golkar convention that will be held to select its presidential candidate, he was not the only one who felt disgusted at the country's second largest party. When Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung decided that he too would run for the nomination, he effectively killed the democratic character of the convention.

Given his power over the party's regional chapters, and to a lesser extent the central executive board, the outcome of the convention, slated to take place in February, is almost a foregone conclusion. Akbar's action has reduced the significance and value that the convention might otherwise have had for the development of democracy in this country.

A legacy of the repressive Soeharto regime, Golkar has tried hard to project itself as a reformed and even a democratic party. So much so that it managed to come second in the 1999 general election. But from the way Akbar has handled the convention, we can see that some things never change in Golkar. And one of these is its practice of the politics of deception, which enabled it to maintain its power for 32 years, with the help of its chief patron Soeharto, of course.

The Golkar convention has now become a mere formality. If and when he is officially nominated as the party's presidential candidate in February, it will not be seen as a vote of confidence in Akbar's leadership of the party. Rather, it will be widely perceived as another display of the power and influence he wields within the party as it gears itself up for the general election in April and the presidential election in the middle of 2004.

Nurcholish, a respected Muslim scholar, was right to pull out of the convention.

Given his untainted reputation and image, Nurcholish's participation would have lent credence to Golkar, something he was prepared to give when he still believed that the party meant well in opening up the presidential nomination process to everyone. Even many of his supporters and friends acknowledged that one way for Nurcholish to attain the presidency would be to contest the Golkar nomination through the convention.

Had he been selected by the convention -- and there was some real support for him within the party -- it would have been a marriage of convenience, or even an unholy alliance. Nurcholish, a public figure of strong moral stature, would have lent respectability to Golkar, which is still beset by the political baggage of its past. In return, Golkar, likely to be one of the largest political parties in 2004, would have helped him clinch the presidency.

Many people, including Nurcholish, gave the benefit of the doubt to Golkar when it announced early this year that it was opening up its presidential nomination process through the holding of a national convention. Most of the other big parties automatically nominated their chairpersons. But with Akbar still embroiled in a corruption scandal, it would have been difficult for Golkar to nominate him directly without undermining its own electoral chances.

Naturally, the prospect of the presidency is very alluring for anyone with an interest in the future of this country. And yet, here is the country's second largest political party desperately searching for a credible presidential candidate because it cannot find one within its own ranks.

Hence, when the convention process officially began last month, Nurcholish decided to run, as did more than a dozen others, including a number of discredited figures from the Soeharto regime. That was how open the convention was. There was a genuine belief that Golkar was sincere in opening up its selection process. Nurcholish was certainly participating with the understanding that Akbar, as the party chairman, would stay out of the fray.

With Akbar now having decided to run, there is no real contest. We have seen how Akbar, even at the height of the corruption scandal last year, managed to rally the support of the majority of the regional chapters against attempts to remove him from the chairmanship.

Now, despite having been convicted by the district court for corruption, a conviction upheld by the high court, he still controls the regional chapters. And with these chapters holding the power to select the presidential candidate at the Golkar convention, there is no question that most, if not all, will vote for the party chairman.

There is no real point in holding the Golkar convention any more. Nurcholish was right to withdraw and we wish him success in finding another vehicle on which to ride to the presidential palace.

The Golkar convention is nothing but a ploy. It is another example of the Machiavellian politics that Golkar has excelled at for more than three decades. But, the question is, who is Golkar really deceiving this time?