Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Jakarta – The opposition juggernaut Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) has become the latest party after Golkar to caution against the rising prominence of the National Democrats, a social organization with seeming political ambitions.
Eriko Sotarduga, the deputy secretary general of the PDI-P, said on Monday that the party had notified all its members to dissociate themselves from the National Democrats.
The National Democrats, founded by media mogul and former Golkar heavyweight Surya Paloh, have previously hinted at mobilizing as a political party in time to contest the 2014 general elections, although Surya has consistently avoided addressing the issue directly.
Golkar, reportedly concerned over the potential share of voters it would hemorrhage to the new group, has already warned its own members to distance themselves from it.
Eriko said the PDI-P's warning was issued last week as part of recommendations to improve party members' performance.
He said the PDI-P would not tolerate any of its members dedicating more efforts to other organizations, particularly if it had funded their various campaigns and projects.
"Why should we work for the benefit of others?" he said. "We need to prioritize the party's own interests."
Eriko added that most of the PDI-P members currently active with the National Democrats were also legislators at either the House of Representatives or at regional legislatures, and should focus on their official duties and constituents rather than on the nascent group.
Eriko argued that Surya's noncommittal stance belied the fact that the most of the activities in which the National Democrats were currently engaged were of a political nature, and said the PDI-P needed to consolidate to prevent the group taking away the party's votes if and when it mobilized as a party.
Eriko also denied reports that PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Sukarnoputri had permitted Surya to canvass the party's members to staff his organization. "We've never spoken about anything of the sort," he said.
Another party leery of the National Democrats is the Islamic-based National Awakening Party (PKB).
Senior PKB official Marwan Ja'far said a recent national-level meeting of the party had concluded that the only civil society group that party members could be affiliated to was Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's biggest Islamic organization and an important voter base for the PKB.
"Organizations other than the NU, such as the National Democrats, should be off-limits to our members," Marwan said, adding that party members not heeding the order would be disciplined accordingly.
"It's common knowledge that the National Democrats plan to become a political party, even though they front as a nonpolitical group."
High-ranking officials from several parties currently hold posts with the National Democrats, including the PDI-P's Rustriningsih, who is the Central Java deputy governor, and Golkar's Syamsul Ma'arif, from the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU).
A senior Golkar Party official previously said the party had warned its members against joining the National Democrats in response to a call by the latter for regional Golkar members to join the organization.
However, the National Democrats said the warning was inappropriate, and called for a high-level dialogue between officials from the two groups to settle any differences between them.