Tim Dodd, Jakarta – Indonesia's Golkar party is under fire for using bribery to win votes, but the chief of the Jakarta chapter is very upfront about his tactics.
"Money politics is something normal for a political party. We give staple foods, we give money to the poor people. But I don't force these people to choose Golkar," said Mr Tadjus Sobirin, whose party ruled supreme under Mr Soeharto but faces its first democratic test at the parliamentary election in 12 days.
Mr Tadjus a short, fat, balding ex-bureaucrat is a case study of the old, rigid Soeharto-era Golkar trying vainly to market itself as "New Golkar" for the democratic age.
At his press conference he was wearing a polo shirt with broad red and white horizontal stripes topped by a black beret, looking like a Parisian street-cafe waiter who had been misplaced to the world of Indonesian politics. In front of his party headquarters, crowded with party acolytes wearing their trademark yellow jackets, was a yellow campaign car covered with slogans.
One read "Yaho!" which loosely translates as "Hey!". Another said in English: "It's fun to be friendly!"
Despite of Mr Tadjus' best efforts, few people in Jakarta are choosing Golkar. The party, to its confusion, has found that its time-honoured tactic of giving away money is not working.
Indeed, the traditional largesse is causing problems, rather than solving them. On Monday, Mr Tadjus was forced to give the press conference after some of his party's hired hands pushed their case for more money.
They were from a garbagemen's association that belonged to Golkar, and claimed to have been promised food, 50,000 rupiah ($10) each and a yellow shirt. All they got was the shirt, and in their anger they stoned Golkar's national chairman, Mr Akbar Tandjung, as he arrived in his car, and police opened fire to restore order.
The incident made Golkar a laughing stock in Jakarta, but that is among the least of the party's problems.
People are not coming to party rallies in Java, where more than half of Indonesia's population lives, despite the lure of attractive pop queens. The party has given up having street parades – which are a staple of Indonesian political campaigning – because they only attract opprobrium and well-aimed missiles.
It is also riven by a factional dispute between Mr Akbar and President B.J. Habibie, who is the party's official presidential candidate. And there are strong indications that Golkar is running out of the commodity that is its lifeblood: money.
According to a Jakarta-based political commentator, Mr James Van Zorge, an effort by Mr Akbar to prevent President Habibie from winning the party's nomination two weeks ago failed because the party chairman, and his dominant Golkar faction, ran out of money to bribe the party delegates. President Habibie, who has other sources of funds, won the day.
"I think Golkar is short of cash from its own coffers," said Mr Van Zorge yesterday. But he warns that the bribery, or "money politics" as it is called in Indonesia, will go on because individuals in Golkar have access to other caches of money.
Two of the key people for coming up with the cash are Habibie ministers: the Minister for State-owned enterprises, Mr Tanri Abeng, and the Minister for Co-operatives, Mr Adi Sasono and there are ways to disburse it so that Golkar gets the credit.
The Far Eastern Economic Review recently documented how Mr Tanri's ministry ordered a State-owned workers insurer to release 100 million rupiah ($20,000) in small business loans in a district of West Sumatra, timed to coincide with a Golkar rally in the area. And Mr Sasono has a 10.8 trillion rupiah ($2.2 million) subsidised loan program for small enterprises.
The loans are difficult to trace and, according to Mr Van Zorge, reports abound that they go to political backers of Mr Sasono and President Habibie.
Last month the World Bank suspended a $US600 million payment for its Social Safety Net program until after the election, after being presented with evidence that, in the field, money was being channelled by Golkar operatives who were using it in an attempt to win votes. Last week, the deputy head of Indonesia's National Development Planning Agency, confirmed that funds from the Social Safety Net program had been used to benefit Golkar as well as Mr Sasono's People's Soveignty Party. Although people of Jakarta, and most of the other 120 million in Java, appear to be turning deaf ears to the Golkar message, there are still ways for the party to spend money effectively for the June 7 election.
Golkar does appear more popular in Sumatra and other outlying islands, which will supply nearly half the seats in the new Parliament. In these regional areas, the Golkar party structure is still functioning well and "money politics" is likely to pay off.
But the big prize is up for grabs in October or November when a 700-member electoral college (500 of them members of Parliament) will choose the new president. The coffers will open wide for this vote, maybe wide enough to re-elect President Habibie.