Asia Times: Indonesia: Golkar back on center stage


	August 4, 2001	atimes.com

Southeast Asia

Indonesia: Golkar back on center stage
By Kanis Dursin

JAKARTA - The Golkar party and the New Order forces from the Suharto era scored an important victory this week when Indonesia's Supreme Court threw out a lawsuit against the party for a lack of legitimate evidence.

The victory may herald the full return of New Order forces into the country's political arena and it may mark the beginning of the end to prosecutions against alleged corrupt people, most of whom are associated with the former ruling party Golkar, the Suharto family and their cronies.

Golkar's triumph may also serve as an early warning for President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who assumed office after members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) impeached Abdurrahman Wahid on July 23, that she will have have an uphill battle against corrupters as the country's judicial system is still very much under the influence of New Order forces. The challenge for Megawati is even greater since Golkar played an important role in ushering her into the country's top post, and she has already rewarded them by saying she will allocate them several Cabinet posts.

For Golkar and all other New Order forces, the Supreme Court verdict constitutes the second victory against its enemies who have been seeking the party's dissolution. The impeachment of Wahid, the country's first president to be elected democratically, in 1999, is clearly the first and biggest victory of Golkar and New Order forces. Alhough in general Wahid had done little to bring the country out of its current economic and social crisis, he was at least able to keep the New Order politicians at bay. The case against Golkar had been supported by Wahid in the last weeks of his 21-month old presidency. He had accused Golkar of being a major force in blocking his attempts to democratize the nation of 210 million people.

Five non-governmental organizations filed a suit against Golkar early this year, accusing it of receiving 90 billion rupiah (US$10 million) from the State Logistics Agency (BULOG); 15 billion rupiah from Bank Bali and 1 billion rupiah from former chief of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA), A A Baramuli, during the 1999 general election campaigns.

The court also threw out a lawsuit that had demanded Golkar be banned over allegations of election funding fraud that dated back to Indonesia's last parliamentary election in 1999. The election was held one year after Suharto was forced from power by riots in 1998. Golkar won the second highest number of seats in parliament even though it had been tainted by allegations of corruption and human rights abuses committed during the 32 years of Suharto's rule. The case against Golkar accused the party of raising election donations far in excess of funding limits set by law.

While there is a common feeling among people at large that the allegations are true, the five Supreme Court judges said the non-governmental organizations had failed to present legitimate evidence in court. The judges also turned down a request from the plaintiff's lawyer to present Defense Minister Mahfud M D and Finance Minister Rizal Ramli in court proceedings. Mahfud was the first person to reveal the alleged disbursement of BULOG funds to Golkar, while Ramli is generally believed to have the necessary "legitimate" evidence of the disbursement. The Supreme Court's chairman, Bagir Manan, is a Golkar cadre, who, according to sources in the House of Representatives (DPR), passed DPR screenings because of money politics.

Golkar is blamed for Indonesia's multidimensional crises, with some civic groups calling for its immediate dissolution. Had the allegations been proven true, Golkar would have been dissolved under a law that prohibits a political party from receiving personal donations exceeding 15 million rupiah or corporate donations in excess of 150 million rupiah a year.

Golkar is the second biggest faction in the DPR with 120 legislators, compared with Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which has 153 seats.

Speaking to the press after reading out the verdict, Justice Artidjo Alkostar said that he personally wanted Golkar dissolved but could not do so because of a lack of legal evidence. "We must remain objective in trying the case since we are dealing with legal matters. In politics, assumptions can be accepted as evidence, but it is not the case in the legal sphere," Alkostar said. The decision was handed down less than a week after a Supreme Court judge, not involved in the case, was assassinated on a Jakarta street by unidentified gunmen.

Some activists, however, believe that the whole court proceedings were designed by Golkar to clear the party from its past wrongdoings. "The chief of the plaintiff's lawyers is a former Golkar cadre, and definitely he does not want Golkar to disappear from the country's political arena," said Hayie Muhammad of the Indonesian Corruption Watch. Indeed, lawyer R O Tambunan, who represented the plaintiffs, is a former Golkar leader.

Muhammad said his office received voluminous evidence of Golkar's money politics from the Election Commission and public accountants assigned by the administration of B J Habibie to audit financial statements of all political parties participating in the 1999 general elections.

"When we looked into Golkar's financial statements there were so many incomes and expenditures that Golkar itself cannot explain them," said Muhammad, wondering why the plaintiff's lawyers did not look into the party's financial statements.

The Supreme Court's verdict clearly lends much-needed legitimacy to Golkar, which has been attacked by pro-reform activists and students for supporting Suharto's repressive leadership.

Golkar Chair Akbar Tandjung said it all when he was asked to comment on the verdict. "This [verdict] proves that Golkar is still worthy to be called a political party and we still have the right to contest in the 2004 general elections," Tandjung said.

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