BY MAX LANE
The 2004 election campaign has started. There have been two important initiatives. The first relates to the major establishment parties, those with substantial numbers of MPs in the parliament. The second is the creation of the left-wing People's United Opposition Party (Partai Persatuan Oposisi Rakyat, or Popor).
The most reported initiative is that by Nurcholis Madjid, who has been "campaigning" to be nominated as a presidential candidate. Madjid has no large political organisation and no significant history as a politician. It is precisely these "qualifications" that have made it possible for him to be considered, by some at least, a serious candidate. Madjid, who is now warmly referred to as Cak Nur (elder brother Nur) in the press, is better known as an intellectual. He is seen as a "clean" figure outside the elit politik.
All the opinion polls, and the comments on Indonesia's streets, show that the population is vehemently hostile to this political elite. The problem for Madjid is that he stands only very partially outside the elite, if it all. It was Madjid who offered to head a "Reformasi Committee" to be established by the former dictator Suharto in the last weeks of the dictatorship. This was offered as a means of facilitating a smoother "transition" to some new political system, with Suharto still presiding. The proposal was rejected by the student movement and the mass democratic movement and Suharto was forced to resign.
More recently, Madjid's ties to the elit politik have been manifested in his announcement that he would seek nomination as the presidential candidate of the most elitist of all parties, Golkar. Golkar was founded by the military and headed by Suharto for most of his dictatorship. Golkar was the only party from which Suharto drew cabinet ministers.
Since the fall of Suharto, Golkar has remained a key element of the ruling elite, except during the presidency of Abdurrahman Wahid. Frightened by Wahid's liberal agenda, Golkar worked with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP) to oust him.
Recent reports indicate that Madjid might reconsider his efforts to seek Golkar's nomination. There is no doubt that his announced intention to seek Golkar's support caused a drop in his popularity. Perhaps among the middle class, who are more familiar with his name, he may retain some support. However, among the poor masses, as well as among students, trade unionists and others, joining with Golkar immediately weakened his position.
Interestingly, Madjid seems to be keeping his options open. In late July, he attended a congress organised by the Banteng National Awakening Party (PNBK), led by former PDIP leader and anti-Suharto figure Eros Jarot. Madjid was given a warm welcome at the congress, attended by thousands of members. Jarot invited him onto the stage, where Madjid said he would be happy to be adopted "in some way or another" by the PNBK.
Madjid's campaign contrasts with that of left-wing labour leader Dita Sari. On July 27, Sari chaired a meeting in Jakarta of around 300 representatives, from more than 50 organisations, which formed the People's United Opposition Party (Popor). She was elected the new party's chairperson. Popor's vice-chairperson is Jusuf Lakaseng, who is also chairperson of the radical People's Democratic Party (PRD).
"We have established this party to strengthen the national opposition forces, which have been divided by the elite forces, the oppressors of the people", Sari told the July 29 Kompas newspaper. Sari said she hoped that Popor would become a significant political force. "Our platform is clear, it is anti-New Order [as the regime of former dictator Suharto was known], anti-militarist and [against] global capitalism", she affirmed.
Among the organisations present were trade unions, including the large and politically independent food and drink workers' union and the Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggle (which Sari also heads), as well as farmer organisations, teachers' unions, and human rights organisations.
Popor's campaign shares just one similarity with that of Madjid's: it also seeks to respond to the masses' desire for a political leadership based outside of the political elite. Beyond this, the two campaigns are very different. Madjid's campaign concentrates only on winning the presidency. The Popor campaign concentrates on empowering the country's poor and working people.
As Iwan, a leader of the Popor-affiliated National Student League for Democracy, told the July 28 Kompas: "To date, the people's struggle against the corrupt elite has had no structure. So we are attempting to build a structure for this struggle."
Popor's affiliates are busy convincing others to help them set up branches throughout the country.
Another difference is in the arena of policy. What are Madjid's policies for dealing with the economic, social and cultural crisis? Will they be the same as those of Golkar, the support of which he is seeking? Golkar's basic policies are the same as that of the PDIP: accept the neoliberal economic recipe of the International Monetary Fund; continue the war in Aceh; and go slow — super-slow — on the trials of the corrupt figures and human rights violators of the Suharto era.
At Popor's founding congress, polices and resolutions on almost all key questions were formulated and adopted. Among other policies, Popor rejects economic neoliberalism, calls for an end to the war in Aceh and demands the speedy trial of all Suharto's crooks and human rights violators.
From Green Left Weekly, August 6, 2003.
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