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The voice of the elite

Jakarta Post Editorial - December 4, 2014

Prabowo congratulates Bakrie at Bali congress – Jakarta Globe. December 4, 2014
Golkar remain in opposition under Aburizal – Jakarta Post. December 4, 2014
Golkar's marked past isn't getting cleaner – Jakarta Globe. December 3, 2014
Golkar split, a proxy fight for leadership – Jakarta Globe. November 27, 2014
Indonesian presidential election offers Suharto family political comeback – Sydney Morning Herald. June 30, 2014

For the public, the message that emerged from the peaceful, uninterrupted Golkar Party national congress in Bali over the last few days was crystal clear: The party has confirmed its billing as the beacon of the New Order's revival, departing from the pledges of reform the party made as it struggled to survive the people's yearning for full-fledged democracy following Soeharto's fall in 1998.

It's not the reelection of Aburizal Bakrie as party chairman that matters; that had been widely predicted, despite the challenges made by detractors who formed a presidium they claimed could salvage the party. Nor is it the incumbent's use of any means to justify his ends that counts, as such is commonplace here and everywhere.

Rather, it is the party's agenda under Aburizal's second term that should raise concerns, including from other political parties that fill public posts in the legislative and executive branches of power, thanks to democracy.

Aburizal, whose accountability was unanimously praised, said Tuesday that, soon after the congress, the party would prepare a move to reject government regulation in lieu of law (Perppu) No. 1/2014, which reinstates the people's right elect their regional leaders.

The Perppu was issued just before then president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono ended his term on Oct. 20. It was a response to public outcry over his failure to stop the Red-and-White Coalition, which includes Golkar, from passing the controversial Regional Elections Law (Pilkada) that scrapped direct regional elections and gave voting power back to regional legislative council (DPRD) members, as was the case during the New Order.

The House of Representatives will have to decide whether to endorse or reject the Perppu by Jan. 3, 2015, some three months after it was enacted; otherwise, the law will automatically take effect and replace the Pilkada Law.

Aburizal may have thought that supporting indirect regional elections was the best strategy for keeping local Golkar elite united behind him and for maintaining the Red-and-White Coalition's grip vis-a-vis the ruling minority coalition in the House. With the opposition bloc controlling regional legislatures, Golkar and its allies would be all but guaranteed sweeps of the the posts of governor, regent and mayor if the House revoked the Perppu.

No less controversial is Golkar's aim to revive the New Order-era closed-list electoral system, which gave the party-elite the authority to decide which candidates would sit in the legislature. The House unanimously reestablished the system in 2008, but the Constitutional Court repealed it in 2009.

Golkar, according to Aburizal, will also support the House's inquiry into the government's fuel-prices hike decision. In the past, such a move led to the impeachment of the president.

Time will tell whether the agenda is simply a bargaining chip being used by Golkar to deal with the government, or if it is a translation of the party's much-vaunted motto, "Golkar's voice is [the] people's voice". For us, it sounds more like the voice of the Golkar elite.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/12/04/editorial-the-voice-elite.html.