EDITORIAL Back to the future in Indonesia
The first round of voting in Indonesia's electoral pageant has revealed a wave of nostalgia for the past. Golkar, the party of disgraced former leader Suharto, came out on top in national parliamentary elections in early April. Days after the results were announced, Golkar picked Mr. Wiranto, a former defense minister, as its presidential nominee. The choice is controversial: Not only is the former general a stalwart of the Suharto regime, but he is widely viewed as complicit in massive human rights violations by the Indonesian military. The country's apparent readiness to embrace a party that represents so much of its discredited past speaks volumes about its hopes for the future. Golkar, or Golongan Karya, was set up in 1964 by Suharto to provide a ruling framework. When he fell from power in 1998, the party also collapsed. Since then, it has been punished by corruption scandals, yet it has managed to rebuild and reclaim its role as a force in Indonesian politics. In parliamentary elections held April 5, Golkar emerged as the leading party in the legislature. Most recent tallies give the party 21.1 percent of the vote, topping the Indonesian Party of Struggle (PDI-P) of President Megawati Sukarnoputri, which took 19.5 percent. Impeached former President Abdurrahman Wahid's Nation Awakening Party came in third with 12 percent. The strong showing bodes well for Golkar's presidential candidate in the next round of voting, which will be held in July (if no one wins 50 percent in that ballot, a runoff will be held in September). The presumptive nominee had been party chairman and speaker of the House Akbar Tandjung. But charges -- eventually dropped -- that he embezzled nearly $4.6 million of taxpayer funds for the party tarnished his image. Mr. Wiranto, a former personal assistant to Suharto, has portrayed himself, in stark contrast to Ms. Megawati, as a can-do leader capable of uniting the country. He is remembered as the man who was offered the presidency when Suharto stood down, but instead passed it on to the vice president, Mr. B.J. Habibie. The former general has one problem with his image, though. It is stained by charges that he held "command responsibility" for the deaths of nearly 1,500 people during violence in East Timor in 1999. U.N. prosecutors have sought a warrant for his arrest, but the issue does not seem to generate much interest in Indonesia. Golkar's national political network and organization give Mr. Wiranto a boost in the presidential ballot. Its strong showing throughout the country in the parliamentary vote attests to the party's strength and appeal. But Golkar can only muster 35 million voters out of an electorate of 137 million. That explains why the front-runner in July -- Indonesia's first direct vote for the presidency -- is Mr. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Democratic Party candidate, another retired general and former security minister. Like Gen. Wiranto, Mr. Yudhoyono, often referred to as SBY, presents the image of a strong, decisive leader. Unlike Gen. Wiranto, he is without the taint of human rights abuses or intimate ties to Suharto. The deciding factor in the presidential ballot is likely to be each man's running mate. The key task is to find a candidate suitable to Indonesia's Muslims, which make up nearly 90 percent of the population. Gen. Wiranto is thought to favor someone from Mr. Wahid's National Awakening Party, although Mr. Wahid is not an option. Golkar's resurgence and the appeal of former military figures hint at a powerful nostalgia in Indonesia. The country has been foundering since the Asian financial crisis cost Suharto his job. His successor, Mr. Habibie, was quickly rejected by voters; his replacement, Mr. Wahid, was impeached, and the current office holder, Ms. Megawati, has seemed more interested in being president than acting like one. The result has been national drift. Opinion polls have shown that the country yearns for a decisive leader who can overcome Indonesia's fractious politics. Voters want an end to rampant corruption. Unfortunately, they also seem willing to ignore some of the worst chapters in their country's past to achieve that. Indonesia is a sprawling country that sits astride crucial sea lanes through which pass virtually all of Japan's imported energy. Instability there threatens this country and all others that depend on maritime trade. Lawlessness has offered terrorists a haven that poses a danger to Indonesia and the entire region. It is only natural that Indonesians look back to the authoritarian period with some longing, but they should also remember that much of their country's current situation -- both good and bad -- can be traced to the decision to give power to one man instead of building political institutions. It is a mistake they should not make again, no matter who wins the presidential ballot. 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