Lee Kim Chew, Banda Aceh – Fighting hard to protect its turf in deeply religious Aceh, the Islamic United Development Party (PPP) – one of the ruling parties in Indonesia – is going for the jugular.
Its leaders tell Acehnese voters that the other political parties vying for their vote in the June 7 general election are less Islamic than it is. Compared to the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB) – its two main Islamic rivals – the PPP claims that it is greener than green, because the other parties subscribe to pluralism.
Mr Zaini Sulaiman, the PPP's chief in Banda Aceh, said his was the only truly Islamic party contesting the elections.
"All our members are Muslim. The PAN and the PKB are not Muslim parties. They have Christian members," he said.
At a PPP rally in Mounmata village outside Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, he thundered: "If PAN or PKB wins, Islam will be adulterated. We will become less Islamic. If PPP wins in Aceh, Islam wins. If PPP loses, Islam loses."
To this, Madam Nurdahri Ibrahim Nain, the PPP's MP for Aceh Besar, added: "I worry that there are many Christian parties now. If they win, Islam will be changed. Indonesia could become Christian."
Speaker after PPP speaker spouted the same line to drum home this message: "A true Muslim votes only for the PPP." The hard-sell, in Acehnese twang, comes with songs in praise of Allah. Politics and religion are inseparable in Aceh, and the PPP, like the other parties, uses Islam to tug at the heartstrings, particularly among the Acehnese, who believe that theirs is the land they call "the window of Mecca".
To the PPP, it matters not that among the 48 parties contesting in Indonesia's first free elections in over four decades, at least 17 are Islamic-based, and only a small handful are Christian. Its electioneering pitch at the extreme is just the stuff for fanatics, the ultra-conservatives, and illiterate peasants in rural Indonesia.
Too early to tell
It is too early to tell whether the PPP's tack will work, now that voters have many Islamic parties to choose from, unlike previously. Among the newcomers in Aceh are the Islamic People Party (PUI), which backs the popular call for a referendum in Aceh, the New Masyumi Party, and the Crescent Star Party (PBB).
In the 1997 election, Golkar took 11 of the 22 contested seats. The PPP won 10, and the Indonesian Democratic Party, one. The remaining five of Aceh's 27 seats in the House of Representatives were reserved for the military.
In this election, the PPP is under mounting pressure to preserve its gains. The vice-rector of Banda Aceh's Mohammadiyah University, Dr Fauzi Ali Amin, said: "People have experience with the PPP. It's like an old car that is not good enough anymore. It was part of the New Order regime. The PPP can influence only the illiterate in the rural areas, not the students and the educated class."
At a PAN rally here last Friday, Mr Muhammad Anas, a former PPP supporter, said he had switched allegiance because the new party promised change in the era of "reformasi". He has no clear idea what PAN holds out for him, but he is certain of this.
"Things had remained unchanged with the PPP for many years, and this is why I am changing parties. Many of my friends who had left the PPP to join the other new parties did it for the same reason," he said.
Mr Muhammad believes that most Acehnese will support the new parties as long as they are Islamic.
To underline its credentials, the PPP quickly emblazoned on its green party flag the symbol of the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine, after former president Suharto's fall in May last year. The Kaaba to whip up religious passions among the faithful was one of several party symbols that was forbidden during the New Order regime.
Golkar's image suffered
Faced with the new challenge, the PPP's strategy is to hunt with the hounds and run with the hare. Mr Zaini said it was perfectly fine for the PPP to have worked with Golkar as part of a ruling triumvirate in the old system under Mr Suharto. "The PPP has worked with Golkar, but we are not a part of Golkar. We were never of the same party," he said, making a studied effort to distance the PPP from its besieged partner in government. "Golkar is finished in Aceh," added Mr Zaini, who thinks the PPP can win twice as many seats this time as it did in the 1997 general election.
Golkar's image has suffered badly after the fall of Mr Suharto, but the party is presenting a new persona to the voters, and its nationwide network, established over three decades under Mr Suharto, remains intact.
This is now being used to great advantage by Golkar's leader Akbar Tandjung, who has pledged to bring more economic development, jobs, higher income and yes, in Aceh's case, more autonomy for the Acehnese.
No party except Golkar Baru (the new Golkar) could deliver all these, he told a rally here. But he reiterated that his party did not support the call for a referendum on Aceh's independence, a subject close to the hearts of Acehnese.
The ruling party faces an uphill drive to sell its new image, but it has deep pockets and much patronage to dispense. Golkar is said to be offering personal loans of 40 million rupiah (S$8,000) to teachers. The loan, repayable over 10 years, is interest-free. What is left unsaid is that the loans will bear interest if Golkar loses in Aceh.
As usual, Golkar mixes politics with entertainment by deploying popular singers and entertainers to draw the crowds. Truck drivers get up to 60,000 rupiah for each load of supporters they bring to the party's rallies. Mr Akbar's flying visit to Banda Aceh last Friday was well-timed. He plunged straight into a street rally to extol Golkar's virtues, and then joined thousands of Acehnese to pray in Baiturahman Mosque, the city's largest, before doubling back to Jakarta.
The battle for hearts and minds in Aceh is fought largely on two grounds: Islam and Acehnese grievances. The locals have long felt exploited, abused and neglected by the central government, and their resentment is felt widely. This fuels the demands for an end to "Javanese imperialism". The separatist Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh Movement) has been driven underground, but its fight for independence continues.
Acehnese alienation could translate into votes for PAN and the other new Islamic parties because the local feelings against Jakarta's rule run high.
Said tour guide Mahyadi: "The central government takes a lot from us, but gives very little in return. We have gas, timber, rice, everything. If we have an international airport, we will have direct flights to Mecca. We will not think much about Jakarta."
Riding on popular sentiments, the PPP is supporting the call for a referendum after the elections for Acehnese to decide whether Aceh stays as a province of Indonesia or go on its own.
Mr Nasri, the PPP secretary, said his party could not openly support the call for referendum in the last election because Mr Suharto had prohibited it. "Now, things are different," he said. "Now is the reformation era. If the Acehnese people decide to break away from Indonesia, then we want independence."
This sort of talk can only invites retribution from the Indonesian armed forces (ABRI). Already, there is much bad blood between the military and the Acehnese, who resent ABRI'S hard-fisted approach to snuff out their rebellion against central rule during the Suharto years.
Even now, talk of military intelligence operatives and agent provocateurs inhibit conversations and restrict the people's movements. The PPP's candidates contesting in North and East Aceh have been warned by the separatists not to campaign in these areas because their safety cannot be guaranteed.
Voters 'invited' to boycott
About two million voters in these "military operation areas" are likely to stay away from the polls. According to Mr Nurdin Rahman, director of Mohammadiyah University's Language Resource Centre, the Free Aceh Movement had "cordially invited" the people to boycott the June 7 election.
Mr Nurdin, who was imprisoned eight years for his involvement in Aceh Merdeka and set free last October, said: "If there is a referendum, the people in Aceh will vote for freedom and independence from Jakarta."
The alternative is decentralisation to give more rights to Aceh, which already has special status as a province in matters of religion, education and culture. New autonomy laws are in the works to give Indonesia's 27 provinces more funds and powers over they way they are governed. But this may not prove enough to satisfy the four million Acehnese, who have never accepted Javanese domination kindly.
Said Mr Nurdin: "I agree with the moves on decentralisation. But what about the military atrocities against the people? Why are those guilty not brought to justice? The Aceh people don't believe the government is serious about punishing the perpetrators.
"They have been cheated many times before. I can accept greater autonomy for Aceh, but many Acehnese will not agree to it. If they are denied a referendum, the road to confrontation with Jakarta is clear. Acehnese are prepared mentally to accept the consequences. I know this because many people have spoken to me. I've been in prison for a long time."
Indeed, the demand for a referendum is scrawled everywhere in Aceh – in graffiti, on banners, on the walls, across the roads, in the universities. The crescendo has risen since January after President Jusuf Habibie offered autonomy, if not independence, to the East Timorese.
So strong are the Acehnese feelings about independence that the PKB's presidential candidate, Mr Abdurrahman Wahid, was given the short shrift and bundled out of the province by students in Syah Kuala University in Banda Aceh last week, because he was dismissive about their calls for a referendum.
Said Dr Fauzi Ali Amin of Mohammadiyah University: "Pak Abdurrahman may be charismatic and well-respected in Java, but this is Aceh. He has not understood the feelings of Acehnese on the question of independence from Jakarta's rule."
Dr Habibie visited Aceh in January and apologised to the people for the military's heavy-handed approach in putting down the separatist elements. But the people are still not satisfied.
Said the PPP's Mr Nasri: "Those responsible have not been brought before the courts, and the promised troop withdrawal from Aceh was no more than troop rotation. The people in Aceh don't believe the government anymore."
At his party's rally in Lhoong, near Banda Aceh, the people were reminded in speeches and songs with this refrain: "The people will not forget about what the military did to us. Habibie's apology is not enough. ABRI wrongdoers have not been punished. The leaders in Jakarta do not understand Aceh."
Last week, Indonesia's first free election in the post-Suharto era was launched, appropriately enough, at Jakarta's National Monument, symbol of the country's unity. Whether it can stay as a unitary state is a question that will remain long after the polls are over, for Aceh at least.
Going by the current mood of the Acehnese, their demands will cause a headache for any government which takes over in Jakarta next month.