Muninggar Sri Saraswati – All the stars are lining up for Hatta Rajasa, a confidant of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, to assume control of the National Mandate Party (PAN) at its national congress in Batam, Riau Islands province, from Jan. 8-10.
The party made a less-than-impressive showing in April's legislative elections, attracting a dismal 6 percent of the vote. A split within the party was blamed for PAN's lack of unity and subsequent weak performance in the elections.
One group led by former PAN chairman Amien Rais backed Yudhoyono in the presidential race in July, while another faction led by current party chairman Sutrisno Bachir backed the ticket of Prabowo Subianto, the chairman of the Great Indonesia Movement Party, who ran for vice president with former President Megawati Sukarnoputri.
The main source of contention was the belief within the party that Sutrisno's stance would hurt the party's chances of being awarded powerful and lucrative cabinet posts.
Two members of the party – which has been jokingly referred to as the United Artists Party because of its recruitment of celebrities to boost its profile – were cabinet ministers in Yudhoyono's first cabinet. That number increased to three in October.
The cabinet ministers are Hatta, the controversial former state secretary who was dumped from Yudhoyono's previous cabinet after a spate of airplane and ferry disasters, Minister of Justice and Human Rights Patrialis Akbar, who failed to win re-election to the House of Representatives, and Minister of Forestry Zulkifli Hasan.
Though Sutrisno, who is not seeking re-election, says he is not backing any particular candidate, Hatta is heavily favored and is expected to assume the chairmanship and shore up political support for Yudhoyono's Democratic Party-led ruling coalition in the House.
The coalition has been battered as Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie targets Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati for her role in the PT Bank Century bailout.
Three of Bakrie's companies are allegedly under investigation for irregularities by the Tax Directorate, which is overseen by Sri Mulyani.
Hatta's main challenger appears to be Drajad Wibowo, a senior member of the party who appears to have little chance of winning. Drajad, however, said he remained optimistic.
"I am ready to compete to win the party ideology. In a party, it is not all about winning and losing," Drajad was quoted as saying by Antara, as he officially announced his candidacy in Yogyakarta on Friday.
Drajad said what was important was consistency in fighting for the ideology one believed in, though he did not spell out exactly what that ideology was. "As it is an ideology, there is no winning or losing, but to continue struggling until the end," he said.
He said he had asked members of the party to confirm themselves as supporters of reforming party financing to "maintain party ideology and public trust." "PAN will not harm the public trust by using corruption money to fund the party," he said.
The race will likely not be a complete whitewash. Members of the provincial party boards support the candidacy of Drajad, whom they consider "a clean figure who is not under the influence of the government."
"In the regions, we support Drajad because it would be difficult for PAN to grow if Hatta leads the party as he will always be under the control of SBY," said Agus Salim Ujung, the deputy secretary of PAN in North Sumatra. "We agree with Drajad that a PAN chairman should not be within the government [in order] to focus on managing the party."