Megawati and PDI-P
Before former President Soeharto stepped down from power on May 1998, Megawati Soekarnoputri and her Indonesian Democratic Party in Struggle (PDI-P) have been my favorite politicians.
The reason was because Megawati and PDI-P adopted an independent policy towards the authoritarian government, and was "crushed" them on 27 July 1996. In 1999 the first democratic election was held and PDI-P won the majority vote and Megawati became Vice President that year, then President in 2001.
During the five years that follows, performances of Megawati and PDI-P were not different from any other politicians and political parties, i.e. corruption, incompetent officials, sales of state owned companies, etc. Besides, the party totally rely on Megawati, her husband, daughter Puan. No serious efforts were made to regenerate the party.
As a result, Soeharto's Golkar Party won with 25% and PDI-P 18%. Although the Democrat Party (PD) only got 7% however its founder former Coordinating Minister of Politics, Laws and Security Soesilo Bambang Yudoyono (SBY) won 60% in the presidential election. Megawati was very disappointed and announced that PDI-P became an opposition party.
SBY and PD formed a coalition government with Golkar and several Islamic based parties which performed quite well in the following 5 years.
In the 2009 general election, the PD won with 25% votes, followed by Golkar (2nd.) and PDI-P (3rd.) and SBY got 60% votes in the presidential election.
While other political parties have changed leadership, PDI-P only stick to Megawati, her husband, daughter and brother. This was confirmed during the party's recent congress in Bali which re-elected Megawati as Chairperson who handpicked other leaders of the party, and emphasized that PDI-P will remain as an opposition party.
Considering the above and the fact that people are getting more and more smarter every day, unless serious efforts are made to prepare newer, younger, better educated and quality leaders, PDI-P's future political role would be very difficult, or almost impossible, to predict.
10 comments:
PDIP is identical with Soekarno and Megawati. They have a fanatical supporter base in several areas in Indonesia. But in fact, PDIP votes continued to decline after the election. New tactics and strategies needed to shore up votes in upcoming elections. If not, PDIP seems to be increasingly left behind by the electorate.
Herdoni,
Although PDI-P and Megawati always claimed that they are the true followers of Soekarno, however when they governed the country they adopted different concept. That's why Mega's sister cannot get along with her and set up her own party.
This has also made PDI-P lost many supporters.
Megawati (especially the Sukarnoputri part of her name) and her political party already have their place in history - she triumphed when people rallied around her- which was one major germs of the toppling of Suharto ( well, plus some economical troubles....).
She should better stop now.
Colson,
You are very right, Megawati and PDI-P will soon be part of history if they do change their concept of leadership from nepotism into modern cadre concept.
PDI-P runs a real risk of making itself (more)irrelevant. Common sense would suggest that for the party to survive it needs to dump their two-time loser (sorry if this is a bit harsh) and bring some fresh blood to the game.
I'm not sure why PDI-P even bothered to have a congress. Does the party exist for the leader or does the leadership exist for the party?
Pj,
Glad to see you again.
I agree that if it want to get more popular support (and votes) PDI-P should be brave and willing to dump the two time loser and bring some fresh blood.
Otherwise the congress would have been a waste and bring bad name to the part (as a family party).
I don'tknow very much about your system and parties, but I hope you continue to get good government in Indonesia.
peter
Spot on!! Can't wait to see the new "funky" image the PDI-P are trying to install (their words not mine).
Are we going to see the Magawati Rap? With what we see everyday here - I wouldn't be surprised!
Peter,
Thank you for your kind support.
I really hope that politicians would also want to have some improvements in the future.
Simon,
I am also looking forward to see what PDI-P meant by 'new image'. But I have a funny feeling that it would not be new at all, considering that Mega and her family still want to control the party.
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