Golkar party and PPP have been confronting internal conflicts since Golkar Munas in Bali. Both parties were divided into factions affecting on organizational structure change. Each party, indeed, attempted to maintain their own faction by proposing claim to several institutions till MA decided to return the organization structure as the previous one. “It is fascinating that internal conflicts of the parties can be overcome maturely. Each party perceived that their arguments were right, and tried not to find out how to cope with the conflicts. It displays that party officials were institutionally failed. For one reason, the establishment of parties in Indonesia remains elite which means that the party is not established from the beginning so that some members may not have sense of belonging and togetherness,” argued Tunjung Sulaksono, S.IP., M.Si. in a restricted discussion at Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta (UMY) on Saturday (22/10).
Tunjung, who is a Governmental Study lecturer of UMY, continued that the parties only thought about their own interest. “They tend to be oligarchy that the leader or organization structure is determined by only a small number of people. In fact, they compete to gain authority that the goal must deviate from what it is supposed to be. For instance, the authority aims at resolving issues and prospering the members, but in the implementation the authority is employed to reach certain groups’ interest so that it is not surprising that separation occurred in the parties,” he inserted.
The authority of an elite party is used for certain groups’ interest. “It causes that both parties attempted to win battle. They are supposed to find out solution to cope with the conflicts instead of concerning on their interest. Most of them do not think of long terms and they only fight for obtaining the power. Most of parties in Indonesia cannot solve conflicts so that the parties are separated and create an opponent party,” he conveyed.
Tunjung stated that MA decided that a valid organizational structure of a party is the one before the conflicts ensued. Government also acknowledged the previous organizational structure of the parties. “The unaccomplished conflicts may lead to the complication. They do not provide other options to make peace or get unified. For example, MA decided that a faction of ARB was pleaded and there is no another option but creating a new party. The establishment of a new party appeared due to their disappointment to the old party,” he elucidated.
The elite parties were supposed to emerge sense of togetherness and belonging among the members, and prosper their party or public instead of trying to gain authority for their own interest. “Hence, each party member have to be collective and have sense of togetherness,” he ended.
