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Local Indonesian Experts: Megawati Killing Democracy
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| Megawati
dubbed the “killer of democracy”
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Report
By Kazi Mahmood, IOL
Southeast Asia
Correspondent
KUALA
LUMPUR, June 30 (IslamOnline) - Megawati Sukarnoputri, the first woman
president of Indonesia, is under fire from local experts. They dubbed
her the “killer of democracy” following her backing for incumbent
Jakarta governor for reelection, news agencies said on Friday.
Most
newspaper reports in Jakarta focused on criticism that Megawati was
doing wrong by defying her party’s wish to get rid of Jakarta
Governor Sutiyoso.
The
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Struggle) urged its
leader not to support Sutiyoso, considered a man close to the Golkar
and its former leader General Suharto.
Criticism
went wild against Megawati as some experts said democracy was in
danger under the presidency of the daughter of the founder of
Indonesia, Ahmad Sukarno.
"She
has not only reduced (the meaning of democracy), she has even killed
democracy," political observer J. Kristiadi of the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said, as reported by the
Jakarta Post on Friday.
The
PDI’s central board announced on Tuesday that the party favored
Sutiyoso as the governor, however the Jakarta faction of the party
does not endorse the decision. The PDI head quarters said Sutioso was
considered capable of providing security during the 2004 General
Election and the General Assembly of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR) in 2005.
Two
weeks before the announcement, Megawati instructed the party's city
councilors to nominate Sutiyoso, rejecting the party's own candidates,
the Jakarta Post noted.
Kristiadi
viewed Megawati's endorsement as undemocratic. He said Megawati had
repeated the same mistakes committed by the past regime of former
authoritarian leader Suharto by endorsing Sutiyoso, who is a former
Jakarta military commander.
Sutioso
has also been accused of leading a mob against the offices of the PDI
party 6 years ago, an act that defrayed the chronicles in Asia since
the target of the attack was no one else but Megawati herself.
The
attack on the PDI office, which was ransacked, was seen as move by
Suharto to fizzle out reform in the streets. Megawati then lead huge
crowds in the streets of Jakarta, with the chants “reformasi” that
ended with the toppling of Suharto. Sutioso was then the freshly
chosen governor of Jakarta.
Kristiadi
said the Jakarta election should be more democratic than other
provinces and urged the party's councilors and other councilors to
reject Megawati's nomination.
Separately,
political expert Ikrar Nusa Bhakti said Megawati should remember that
Sutiyoso was implicated in the bloody attack at her party's
headquarters on July 27, 1996.
In
his opinion, Megawati was practicing the ways of the New Order regime
of Suharto in nominating a military figure for Jakarta governor,
citing security reasons, an accusation which Megawati is not ready to
accept, sources in Jakarta told IslamOnline.
The
source, close to the PDI central committee said Megawati's support for
Sutiyoso though controversial, was proof of Megawati’s willingness
to forget the past and to move on with democracy in the country.
Megawati
has so far guaranteed freedom of the press, freedom of association and
assembly. The source told IslamOnline that Megawati was concentrating
on resolving economic problems in the country and would not be
deterred by the ongoing criticism against her over the Jakarta
elections.
The
fate of the Jakarta gubernatorial election, to be held on Sept. 17,
will be in the hands of 84 councilors, 30 of which come from PDI P of
Megawati, 13 from the party of Amien Rais, the speaker of the MPR, 12
from the United Development Party, nine from the Indonesian Military
(TNI)/National Police faction and eight from the Golkar party. The
rest belong to several minor parties.
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