Indonesia's presidential candidates are gearing up for the official start of campaigning next week. Five pairs of candidates will contest the July 5th election. The front runner at this stage is controversial former military chief, General Wiranto, representing Golkar.
Presenter/Interviewer: Sen Lam
Speakers: Nuim Khaiyath, executive producer of Radio Australia's Indonesian service
Khaiyath: The main players of course are three are former generals. One is SBY Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Wiranto and of course Agum Gumelar who is the vice presidential nominee for Hamzah Haz, the current vice president of Indonesia. And of course Megawati is now pairing with the former head of Nahdlatul Ulama, considered to be the biggest Islamic organisation in the world, not only in Indonesia with over 40 million membership. And Amien Rais of course has got Siswono as his running mate.
Lam: And of course as you mentioned there are three generals there. Does one get the impression that Indonesians can't get enough of the military in politics?
Khaiyath: Well that's what I like to say, it's like the triumph of hope over experience. Just about five years ago the military was the most hated institution in Indonesia, and now suddenly it looks like there's SBY and of course Wiranto with a very good chance of becoming the next Indonesian president. It is because they say Indonesians whether they want to admit it or not, they need a strong leader, and they can only get a strong leader in their mind by having a military person up there.
Lam: And of course Golkar's track record is hardly illustrious.
How do you account for Golkar's popularity, may we read its parliamentary election some indication as to how the August presidential poll might go?
Khaiyath: It looks like it, Wiranto has got a very, very good chance. But SBY is somebody you cannot overlook. But why did Golkar do so well? It's because the political machine that they have, and it's always functioning, it never really went out of order, so although in Java perhaps Golkar did not do as well as they could have done, but outside Java Golkar is still being identified and still being considered as synonymous with power.
Lam: And what about the former general and security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono? How do you account for his popularity?
Khaiyath: Well he's very popular now but many people are still saying that he is kept in the back because not many people have known about him. Wiranto might have been notorious but I think that notoriety is to his advantage, and the fact that a warrant was issued by a United Nations-backed tribunal in East Timor is only going to help him, because Indonesians are saying well this man must be something or else why even the United Nations wants to take him on. So I think it is to his advantage to have this warrant issued.
Lam: So does that almost mean that many Indonesians do not care about what happened in East Timor and General Wiranto?
Khaiyath: Not what happened in East Timor, I think what still rankles with many, many Indonesians is the fact that East Timor is no longer part of Indonesia. For a country that was for about 300 to 150 years being under colonial rule to have lost something and then to put the blame on Australia having the machinations for East Timor to be separated from Indonesia, that rankles. And therefore people are looking at East Timor as a fifth column for "the Caucasian" or the white powers.
Lam: The former president Abdurrahman Wahid is out of the race, but his party, the PKB has thrown its weight behind Golkar. Do you find that surprising?
Khaiyath: That's not very surprising because look the vice presidential nominee for Golkar is Salahudin Wahid, the younger brother of Abdurrahman Wahid. He is also or he was one of the vice chairman of Nahdlatul Ulama. If you look at Abdurrahman Wahid, a very, very shrewd man. When he took over Nahdlatul Ulama in the 80s he declared Nahdlatul Ulama would no longer play politics, that Nahdlatul Ulama would go back to its original declaration of its charter and that was to become a social organisation and educational organisation. That allowed Nahdlatul Ulama to have its people in all political parties in Indonesia, to the extent that now you see the vice presidential nominee for SBY is Jusuf Kalla and Nahdlatul Ulama's person. And of course Wiranto the same thing, and of course Megawati with Hashim Muzati, also somebody from Nahdlatul Ulama. So it seems that not only the military, but Nahdlatul Ulama is having its finger in every case.
Lam: But given the fact that NU was concerned with social and other issues, it was also a reformist organisation. The fact that it's throwing its weight behind Golkar isn't that surprising?
Khaiyath: Well it doesn't want to put its eggs in one basket in the sense that look if SBY wins then Jusuf Kalla the vice president is from NU. To have Salahudin behind. So what happened was when Wiranto decided to have Salahudin as his vice presidential running mate he decided that that would somehow temper his image as a very strong, very stern, very staid military person, to have somebody like Salahudin Wahid, the deputy chairman of the Indonesian natural commission for human rights and to have somebody coming from Nahdlatul Ulama, a very powerful organisation, although they might not be voting as a block, but it is still very powerful. And now it's P.K. bid, which is Abdurrahman Wahid's party throwing its weight behind Salahudin Wahid, meaning to say behind Wiranto, it's a very interesting thing.
Nuim Khaiyath, executive producer of Radio Australia's Indonesian service.