(JakGlobe) "Suharto Channel" on Golkar Rift

12/12/2018

When the late dictator Suharto wanted to undermine the political opposition to his iron-fisted rule, he did it from the inside, sowing seeds of discontent that fractured any semblance of organized dissent.

Today, Indonesia’s first ever president elected to office without any ties to Suharto’s New Order regime is doing the same, critics contend.

For Dradjad H. Wibowo, a veteran politician from the opposition National Mandate Party, or PAN, the Suharto-era tactics are evident in the squabbling that has riven both the Golkar Party, the strongman’s former political vehicle, and the United Development Party, or PPP, Indonesia’s oldest Islamic party.

“There has been a ploy to divide them,” Dradjad says. “These two old parties, Golkar and the PPP, are being divided.”

He stops short of apportioning blame for the internal schisms, but insinuates that just as in the New Order era, the government of President Joko Widodo has a hand in the current upheaval.

Underhanded tactics

A turning point in Suharto’s 32-year rule was his appointment in 1996 of Soerjadi as chairman of the Indonesian Democratic Party, or PDI, spurred by concern about the growing popularity of Megawati Soekarnoputri, who three years earlier had been elected by the party as its leader.

The move caused a rift in the PDI, and on July 27, 1996, the Soerjadi-led faction, backed by the military and the police, stormed Megawati’s supporters at the PDI office in Menteng, Central Jakarta. Five people were killed, but Megawati’s camp managed to retain control of the headquarters.

Eighteen years later, it seems, Megawati’s party, now called the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, is engaging in the same underhanded tactics against the opposition Red-White coalition, or KMP, says Cecep Hidayat, a political analyst at the University of Indonesia.

“I’ve seen it all; the rifts afflicting some of the parties in the KMP are no coincidence. There’s outside interference,” Cecep says.

Unlike Dradjad, whose party is also part of the KMP, Cecep is unequivocal about who is to blame: the PDI-P-led government.

He cites the case of the PPP, which was part of the KMP until its chairman, Suryadharma Ali, was ousted earlier this year following his naming as a suspect in a corruption case.

His rivals in the party went on to elect the secretary general, M. Romahurmuziy, as the new chairman, but elements loyal to Suryadharma staged their own congress at which they named Djan Faridz the PPP chief.

The government, through Justice Minister Yasonna Laoly, has endorsed Romahurmuziy’s appointment and refused to recognize the faction led by Djan — a move that Cecep says reeks of political bias.

“The justice minister, himself a politician, has [helped] Romi’s camp win,” he says, referring to Romahurmuziy by his nickname. “When the decision is made by a person with a political affiliation, surely it’s affected by political tendencies.”

Golkar discontent

The Golkar case is similar. For several months now there have been rumblings of discontent over the direction that chairman Aburizal Bakrie has taken the country’s oldest party.

A poor showing in the legislative election and Aburizal’s decision to endorse Prabowo Subianto over Joko in the presidential race means that for the first time in its 50-year history, Golkar is not part of the ruling government, and has lost seats at the House of Representatives for a third consecutive election cycle.

Critics including deputy chairman Agung Laksono blame Aburizal for the poor decisions leading to the unprecedented state in which Golkar finds itself, and denounced his bid for a second term as chairman at a national congress earlier this month in Bali.

But with his challengers refusing to accept the legitimacy of the congress, Aburizal went on to win (by 100 percent of votes) and subsequently purged 17 party stalwarts who had criticized him, including Agung and Priyo Budi Santoso, a former House deputy speaker.

Unfazed, these Golkar members staged their own congress in Jakarta over the weekend at which Agung was named the party chairman.

The government, as in the PPP case, is giving every impression that it will take sides against Aburizal, who has reaffirmed his commitment to the KMP.

A day before the Bali congress, Tedjo Edhy Purdijatno, Joko’s chief security minister, called on the local police to deny organizers a permit to hold the congress there.

Tedjo is a politician with the National Democrat Party, or NasDem, which along with the PDI-P, is a member of Joko’s Awesome Indonesia coalition, or KIH.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla, a former Golkar chairman, has also hinted his preference for the Jakarta congress that saw Agung elected chairman

“It’s not my place to choose. But I will respect the result of the more democratic [congress],” Kalla told reporters in Jakarta on Monday. “Surely you know [which one I mean].”

Aburizal’s opponents in Golkar have accused him of using “undemocratic” and “dishonest” means to win re-election, including by dismissing party members opposed to him.

Meanwhile, Agung’s camp declared on Monday that it had fired Aburizal and Golkar secretary general Idrus Marham from the party.

Weakening the opposition

Observers say the government has every reason to want to undermine Golkar and PPP because it will weaken the KMP, which controls a majority of the House.

“After the two congresses, Golkar will no longer remain solid, and that includes in terms of its commitment to the KMP and its place in the House,” says Siti Zuhro, a political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, or LIPI.

She adds that any endorsement of either camp by the justice minister will carry little weight, making it more than likely that Golkar will take the route that the Djan-led PPP faction has done and go to court to challenge the legitimacy of the rival camp.

“That means Golkar will suffer from uncertainties until the State Administrative Court decides who wins” the dispute, and thus Golkar’s leadership, Siti says.

Padjadjaran University political lecturer Deddy Mulyana agrees that the government most probably meddled in the internal affairs of Golkar and the PPP, but blames the extent of the rifts on the rival interests and power grabs among the parties’ own members.

“Seeking power is among the most basic characteristics of a political party. That’s why we’ve often heard the saying that there are no eternal friends or eternal foes in politics, only eternal interests,” Deddy says. “When they’re involved in arguments, it all leads to a [fight for] power.”

Justice Minister Yasonna, meanwhile, whose office on Monday registered bids for official recognition from both Golkar camps, has promised to set up a team to examine the issue.

President Joko has not commented on the rifts in either Golkar or the PPP.

On Monday, though, he hosted his predecessor, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, at the State Palace in a meeting widely seen as cementing a break by Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party from the KMP.

Joko said the Democrats might join his KIH next month, while Yudhoyono expressed his dissatisfaction with the KMP.

He said the Democrats could “no longer cooperate” with “inconsistent parties that betray deals and abandon commitments,” although he did not elaborate as to what this would mean in terms of the Democrats’ long-term stance.

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(JakGlobe) "Suharto Channel" on Golkar Rift