Golkar, After the Chairman is Named Suspect
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The news finally arrived, though it was not on the sacred Friday as usual. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) boldly named Setya Novanto (SN), Speaker of the House of Representatives and also chairman of the Golkar Party, as a suspect in the case of the electronic identity cards (e-ID).
The political activities of SN are quite clever. Even though a number of previous cases ensnared him, he always managed to escape. The "Papa Asks for Stock" case had no effect at all on his political career. After withdrawing from his position as House Speaker, Setya Novanto even managed to become the general chairman of Golkar amid the variety of unpleasant issues against him. As has been witnessed by the general public, SN eventually returned as House Speaker after displacing Ade Komaruddin, who had replaced him earlier.
It seems his political career will have the same fate as the politicians who are stumbling over the corruption case. What about Golkar, after its chairman has been named a suspect by the KPK? Many people wonder: will the fate of Golkar be at the end of the horn, its electoral votes free-falling, or vice versa – will Golkar still exist as a party and remain a respected political force?
Shield of "corporation" oligarchy
Answering these questions is not easy. Referring to the political literacy of earlier corruption cases involving party officials – such as in the case of the Democratic Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the United Development Party (PPP) –indicate that the resulting moral and political burdens experienced by the parties are not light. The burden borne by parties whose chairmen are ensnared in corruption cases has an internal and external moral impact.
In the case of the Democratic Party, for example, the party\'s electability experienced a significant rise from 21 percent (2009 general elections) to 13 percent (2014 general elections). After Anas Urbaningrum, the party\'s then chairman, was named a suspect, the Democratic Party underwent an internal consolidation process amid the crisis.
The PPP and the PKS also have similar experiences. The parties received no lightweight, indirect impacts when they experienced a kind of electoral stagnation. The PPP was even hit by a prolonged conflict between the Romy and Djan Faridz camps. As a result, the party structure became divided from the central to the regional levels.
What about the fate of Golkar? As an old party – like the PPP –Golkar has escaped destruction several times by a hair. We still remember that at the beginning of the reform era, Golkar was not only cursed, but a number of its offices were even "set fire to" by the masses. The party finally transformed into "the New Golkar" under the leadership of Akbar Tandjung to survive, even ranking second in the 1999 General Elections.
The party also experienced internal divisions because several of its political figures, the Golkar cadres, established new parties of their own, such the PKPI led by Hartono, Hanura by Wiranto, and Gerindra by Prabowo. The last faction of Surya Paloh, who quit his seat, founded the National Democratic Party (Nasdem).Despite these experiences, Golkar remains intact, even though its electability continues to erode.
Golkar also managed to avoid becoming trapped between two battling camps, between the camps of Agung Laksono and Aburizal Bakrie. Golkar\'s internal adaptation gave birth to a momentary compromise in political power, during which its objective was to save the party with the election of SN as general chairman.
Its internal cohesion is one of the factors why Golkar can survive a number of political disasters that threatened it. The cohesion is influenced by interests in the Golkar body politic in the form of corporate oligarchy. The internal cohesion is also caused by the presence of a number of political figures that create political balance in the Golkar body. Even though there is no guarantee that the presence of central Golkar figures, such as Jusuf Kalla, Akbar Tandjung and Habibie,will dampen the damage, their influence is still felt.
An oligarchy, according to the International Encyclopedia of Social Sciences, is a form of government wherein its political power is in the hands of a small minority. Oligarchy comes from the Greek, oligarkhia (the rule by the few), which consists of oligoi ( a few) and arkhein (to rule) (Winters, 2011: 1-2). In the context of the reform-era Golkar, “oligarchy” was more suitably called a corporate oligarchy, because power ran along the lines of corporate interests, an accumulation of the combined forces of people and capital to control Golkar.
The corporate oligarchy is different from a sultanistic oligarchy, a military oligarchy, a collective oligarchy, and civil oligarchy, as mentioned by Jeffrey A Winters in his book on oligarchy. Corporate oligarchy grows and flourishes from the same basic political interests, its owners scattered from the national to regional levels, with its unique oligarchic characteristics. The accumulation of the many interests narrows down into a common political consensus, at which point Golkar cadres need a political organization as a common ground to perpetuate their respective interests from different locales and different figures.
The awareness emerged after the fall of Soeharto, the most important political patron of Golkar. In the reform era, the oligarchy existing within Golkar spread relative to cohesiveness, capital, ideas, power, and "strong" figures at the central and regional levels. Corporate oligarchy was thus created within the structure of party, where its organizational administration was based on an adaptation of the power of people and capital to move it.
Corporate oligarchy gave birth to special interest groups in the big house of Golkar. These realize that, without the house of Golkar, they could have lost a political career and the opportunity to enjoy power. This has saved Golkar from the political turmoil that hit and threatened them.
Political compromise
The history of Indonesian politics, especially in the New Order era, gave political literacy lessons that the current political figures of Golkar are those who grew from the seeds of the New Order’s oligarchical power. They are the ones who have an opportunity for a political career, and they currently growing large in the environment of such an oligarchy.
Politicians who are born into power take political compromise for the sake of long-term political goals, perpetuating their interests on the one hand, and perpetuating the oligarchy they build on the other. Wild oligarchic groups have grown in the Golkar body during the reform era. If they were parties, they could be factions. However, the growing factions in Golkar’s case, to borrow Sartori\'s term, are not ideological factions but rather interest-based factions.
The nature of such political factions is political compromise, which is important to obtain benefits and a portion of power. So far, the Golkar Party has used this nature to avoid internal conflicts and resolve any issues that threaten the organization.
Therefore, the Golkar Party structure, whose foundation is strengthened by corporate oligarchy, will affect the political direction it will take after SN. Indeed, it will not deny the possibility of the emergence of political factions that push for integrity and cleaning up the party. On the contrary, if Golkar\'s corporate interests are consolidated, Golkar will not suffer too much. Why is that? Because Golkar\'s sources of leadership are not experiencing a crisis like other parties might, even though they may not have ideal qualities.
From Golkar’s political experience, the draw of political interests that are based on the power of the people and the interests of individuals or clans (groups) is too strong to resist. They will unite to save the party from destruction, and it can be predicted logically that this party will carry on SN’s leadership through two ways.
The first is the trick of offering political compromise for the sustainability of the party. This solution was proven in Golkar\'s extraordinary meeting in Nusa Dua, Bali, which delivered Setya Novanto as its general chairman.
The next trick, which is no less important, is to keep looking for a "protector" that holds power. This is implicitly visible from the signals of the Golkar elite that the party still supports the Jokowi-Kalla government.
MOCH NURHASIM
Researcher at the Center for Political Research - LIPI
