While President Megawati Sukarnoputri keeps silent in the choice of her running mate in the 2004 direct presidential election, her husband Taufik Kiemas has taken a provocative stand by signaling the readiness of the Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to join forces with Golkar, the political vehicle of former dictator Suharto.
Asked by reporters on Saturday for his response to the presidential candidates proposed by Golkar in their national leadership meeting, Kiemas said the party had named the best people. "If I were a presidential candidate, I would be more than willing to be their running mate."
Kiemas' statement made it clear that the leading figure within Megawati's inner circle as well as within PDI-P thinks his party would be sensible to build a coalition with Golkar, the second largest vote-winner in 1999.
The political objective is to create an absolute majority in the parliament as well as in the executive. Kiemas justified his praise for Golkar's list of possible candidates and the move to a coalition by saying "the most important thing is we share a common nationalist platform with the party [Golkar]."
Unfortunately for Kiemas, this kind of reasoning is totally in contradiction with that of his wife, PDI-P chairwoman Megawati. Her view had already been voiced by House faction leader Roy B.B. Janis in a meeting with anti-New Order activists on Thursday.
In response to pressure on PDI-P to avoid building a coalition with Golkar because of its legacy from Suharto's days, Janis denied the party' had made a definite decision to work with Golkar.
Janis admitted that PDI-P needs to form coalitions with other parties, given the fact that a successful presidential candidate will need to win more than 50% of the popular vote to form a new government.
"In facing the 2004 general election, PDI-P has yet to decide build coalitions with certain parties." Janis went further in explaining party policy direction. "We are of the opinion that the coalition must not be limited to the political elites, but must be built among the grass root-based groups," he said.
Given Janis' role as Megawati's spokesman in counterbalancing Kiemas' political interference within PDI-P leadership circles, Megawati can be assumed to believe that sharing a common nationalist platform is not enough in building a strategic coalition.
Megawati's scheme to build a coalition on the basis of broad-based support would provide a more solid and stable working platform.
When she took the presidency in 2001 by replacing the charismatic but erratic Abdurrahman Wahid, Megawati surprised the political actors within and outside the parliament by taking sides with the Hamzah Haz, chairman of the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP), rather than with Golkar chairman Akbar Tanjung and prominent military figures such as Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or Agum Gumelar.
Little wonder that Janis once said that in the upcoming 2004 presidential election, Megawati would choose her running mate by using the arrangement with Hamzah and PPP as a model. This was interpreted as meaning that in choosing her running mate, popular support for a partner would be the main consideration.
Kiemas' signal that PDI-P and Golkar have reason to get together on the basis of sharing a nationalist platform sounds simplistic seen from the standpoint of Megawati's approach. Megawati has always taken care to avoid being trapped in a polarization between Islamic and Nationalist sentiment.
At the October 1999 National Assembly Session, amid growing attacks from the Muslim parties in blocking her as the president based on her gender, Megawati refused the temptation to offer a power-sharing deal, especially with the Muslim political parties united under the Center Axis led by Amien Rais, chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN).
Megawati remained unmovable even when she should have seen the reality that the Muslim-based party coalition would combine with Golkar to support Abdurrahman Wahid as president-elect.
At the time, Megawati rejected political bargaining based on ideological antagonism between Islam and Nationalism, even at the cost of losing the presidency.
Assuming she remains true to this stance, Megawati is unlikely to be as keen as her husband on a nationalist platform with Golkar. To do so would be to smear the other parties as non-nationalistic, provoking ideological antagonism of just the kind that marred the 1999 general election.
The difference of opinion between husband and wife, while nothing new, has provided a picture of the different methods used within the PDI-P leadership in building a power base. Kiemas, influential among the conservative nationalists, has been keen to try to preserve Islamic-nationalist unity.
Megawati, perhaps with a far more simplistic understanding of politics, sees nationalism as a matter of the spirit, and not merely a political vehicle. As such, there is no essential difference between a secular nationalist or a devout Muslim: both can be considered nationalist.
First husband Kiemas, who was responsible for encouraging his wife to enter politics in the first place, is considered by many to be the de facto PDIP chairman and accused of an enthusiasm for capitalizing on his wife's position.
Megawati, herself no longer particularly close to her husband, has placed a number of people as a "safety net" to block interference from Kiemas. Deputy secretary general Pramono Anung keeps control of policy on national issues, for instance. Representing Megawati's party direction and tasked with uniting the party rank and file is Roy B.B. Janis.
Within the government, Kiemas is blocked by State Secretary Bambang Kesowo, ironically a former Suharto man. Government sources have told Laksamana.Net on many occasions that Kiemas has been regularly frustrated by Kesowo.
When Megawati went to the United States shortly after the September 11 attacks in 2001, Kesowo again played the delicate task of keeping Kiemas out of an informal lunch hosted by President George W. Bush and congressmen. At the time, says a source, Kiemas was furious with Kesowo. To his credit, Kesowo, Suharto man or not, played the role of the professional public servant and did what the elected president ordered.
Kiemas has damaged Megawati's image and that of the government in business circles by providing fuel to feed strong and growing public skepticism that the government is not serious about combating corruption and nepotism.
It is common knowledge that Kiemas represents a Palembang "mafia" of individuals who occupy strategic positions in state-owned enterprises, including wealthy state banks, pension funds and securities firms.
Although his fortune is small by the standards of the Indonesian elite, Kiemas is said to be worth around $10 million. His connections to some of the businessmen who profited from the Suharto regime have raised fears of a return to crony capitalism.
His relationship with Megawati has given him a natural role as a power broker. He is often to be seen juggling meetings with coalition members and a succession of fallen business leaders.
Over the past few months he has met with the heirs of the Salim group's founder Liem Sioe Liong, property developer Ciputra, timber king Prayogo Pangestu, Gajah Tunggal group's Sjamsul Nursalim and, last but not least, textile baron Marimutu Sinivasan.
These were businessmen who went bust in the 1997-98 financial crisis and saw their assets seized by government. Now it looks as though they see Kiemas as the means to get those assets back.