Golkar and Megawati: a marriage of convenience to win the presidency

Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Powerful Golkar Party of former dictator Suharto will throw its support behind outgoing President Megawati Sukarnoputri in next September 20 presidential run-off elections.

For many observers the decision is purely opportunistic, designed to overturn first ballot results that saw Megawati come in second after former General Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, still considered by many the odds on favourite in the presidential elections. With 33% he had received the largest share of the vote against Megawati's 27% and former General Wiranto's 22%.

Golkar is still accused of violence and blatant patronage directed towards the electorate in the first round of the vote. Many analysts also maintain that its candidate Wiranto is tied to a fundamentalist organisation called the Islamic Defenders Group suspected of attacking students in 1998 and stocking sectarian violence in Maluku in 1999 and East Timor at the time of its independence.

Following an intense period of horse-trading after the first-round vote of July 5, Golkar deputy chairman Slamet Effendy Yusuf announced recently that his party machinery would work towards Megawati's victory.

Still many observers remain sceptical about the alliance pointing out that Megawati has by no means sewn up the election. On the contrary, the move may backfire since many voters look at it with suspicion and are concerned about the many concessions she had to make to Golkar and its leader Akbar Tandjung.

According to political analyst Andi Mallarangeng, of the Freedom Institute think-tank, "voters will sneer at this type of coalition and regard it as nothing more than a horse-trading scheme."

For Endi Bayuni, editor in chief of the Jakarta Post, voters are never the less ready to cast their ballots without fear of external pressures. "Today we can publish background information about the parties and the candidates. This would have been impossible under Suharto's dictatorship in the nineties."

For her part Megawati is backing a truth commission to investigate crimes committed by the military, a move some consider politically opportunistic. In the president's annual state-of-the-nation speech, Megawati praised her administration's successes over the past year in the fight against Islamic terrorism, Aceh separatism, and in promoting economic recovery. (DS)

• indonesia
• presidential
• elections
• first-round
• run-off
• democracy
• alliances
• megawati
• golkar
• susilo
• wiranto