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Web-only Exclusives
November 30, 2000

From Our Correspondent: Hirohito and the War
A conversation with biographer Herbert Bix

From Our Correspondent: A Rough Road Ahead
Bad news for the Philippines - and some others

From Our Correspondent: Making Enemies
Indonesia needs friends. So why is it picking fights?

Asiaweek Time Asia Now Asiaweek story

Down and Dirty in Golkar

Habibie puts his stamp on the ruling party


BRIBERY, THREATS, BACKROOM DEALS and smear campaigns - party politics as usual elsewhere, but a new experience for Golkar. Once Suharto's docile tool, Indonesia's ruling grouping last week embraced the ugly rough and tumble of the political process. The stated aim of Golkar's extraordinary congress from July 9 to 11 in Jakarta was to redefine itself without the former president. But mainly it was a fierce fight to control what is still the country's largest political party.

And the winner was undoubtedly Suharto's successor, B.J. Habibie. His close ally, state secretary Akbar Tandjung, was elected chairman with a comfortable 17 of the 27 votes cast (one from each provincial party chapter). The remaining 10 votes went to Edi Sudrajat, a former minister backed by retired military officers and party veterans such as former secretary general Sarwono Kusumaatmadja.

Akbar's backers waged the shrewder campaign. Habibie ministers and mass organizations played on resentment against the center to sweep votes from islands outside Java (Akbar's roots lie in Sumatra, while Edi is a leader in the old Golkar mold: Javanese and ex-military). They also cleverly painted the tussle as one between Suharto loyalists (the Edi camp) and Habibie's reformists, despite the fact that Edi and his supporters had been among the most critical of Suharto before Indonesia's economic crisis. Money may have helped too. In a "dawn raid" on delegates, up to 2 billion rupiah ($138,000) are said to have been channeled to sway votes to Akbar.

But it was a closer contest than the final numbers suggest. Almost till the last minute, armed forces chief Gen. Wiranto had backed Edi (there's little love for Habibie within the military). But the president had the power of office. Wiranto was soon made to understand he could be replaced with more malleable officers, and redirected his lobbying in favor of the president's man. Edi's loss was primarily self-inflicted, however. He assumed that the retired generals who head 18 of the 27 Golkar chapters would close ranks behind him. Many didn't. "Edi took things for granted," says Sarwono.

So are Indonesians seeing the first steps toward a more independent Golkar - and a more democratic country? Habibie talks the talk: Besides economic recovery and food for the people, his concern is also "how to prevent the style of the past 32 years [under ex-mentor Suharto] from ever coming back." The former president ruled by maneuvering support from Golkar, the army and the bureaucracy. The same setup now holds for Habibie. Except one crucial element is missing: a thriving economy.

Initial moves from the new Golkar chairman have been criticized as clumsy. Akbar named an unwieldy 138 people to the party executive board, weighted with many presidential loyalists. Some members complained of not being consulted about their appointments, and at least seven have submitted resignations. Akbar also refused to give up his post as state secretary, continuing to blur the distinction between party cadre and government bureaucrat. "It would have been good to have more of a balance between the executive and legislative branches," says veteran journalist Aristides Katoppo.

Maintaining party unity will be a challenge for Akbar. Golkar is an amalgamation of different mass organizations, which are growing ever more feisty. And the ruling party will have to fend off rivals in a desperate economy. Suharto could have told the new party leaders: holding on to power is as difficult as winning it.

- By Jose Manuel Tesoro and Dewi Loveard/Jakarta


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