Jakarta — The chairperson of the National
Liberation Party of Unity’s (Papernas) advisory
board, Dita Indah Sari, has decided to run as a
legislative candidate under the Islamic based Star
Reform Party (PBR). The labour activist has been
ranked 1 in the East Java V electoral district that
covers Klaten, Boyolali, Sukoharjo and Solo
(Surakarta) city.

The East Java V electoral district is expected to be
a ’hot zone’ in the 2009 general elections because a
number of other important party figures have also
confirmed that they will take part in the contest
for the district. They include the daughter of
former president Megawati Sukarnoputri Puan Maharani
(Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle), People’s
Consultative Assembly speaker Hidayat Nurwahid
(Justice and Prosperity Party), senior badminton
athlete Icuk Sugiarto (United Development Party) and
GKR Wandansari or Gusti Mung (Democrat Party).

"Certainly Dita is not Central Javanese. But her
husband is Central Javanese," said the deputy
general secretary of PBR’s Central Board of
Directors, Yusuf Lakaseng yesterday, following the
launch of the PBR’s electoral number of 29 for the
2009 elections at the PBR’s central office in Tebet,
South Jakarta.

According to Lakaseng, Sari’s recruitment as a PBR
legislative candidate was because there was similar
segmentation (sic) between the PBR’s struggle and
that of Dita’s, who is also the former general
chairperson of the People’s Democratic Party Central
Leadership Committee (KPP-PRD). "We have indeed
opened ourselves up to activist circles," he said.

Moreover added Lakaseng, the party is seriously
prioritising youth figures with as many as 60
percent of all PBR’s legislative candidates being
under the age of 40. "This is to provide impetus for
acceleration in political regeneration," he
asserted. Sari for example, was born in the East
Java city of Medan on December 30, 1972 said
Lakaseng, so she is still only 36-years-old.

Lakaseng added that in the 2004 elections, the PBR
only garnered 2.7 percent of the vote. For the 2009
elections, he continued, the PBR has set a minimum
target of 7 percent. "The thing is, we have now
built up our party structures every province
throughout Indonesia," said Lakaseng, who is a
legislative candidate for the Central Sulawesi
electoral district.

When asked for confirmation, Sari said that she had
indeed become a PBR legislative candidate for
Central Java. Is she afraid of competing against a
line-up of popular figures from other parties? "For
me, this is precisely the big challenge", she
answered laughing.

Sari claimed that she does not have a problem with
the PBR being an Islamic based party. This is
because much of the PBR’s program is in accordance
with her [views]. For example, economic independence
that is not dependent upon foreigners, the option of
abolishing the foreign debt and economic development
in rural areas as a priority. "I see the PBR as a
party that is trying to introduce Islamic principles
with a more open understanding," she said.

Moreover, added Sari, in the coming elections the
PBR will apply a majority vote system to determine
which legislative candidates are elected. "Although
it’s not perfect and there is perhaps no party that
is perfect, all of this can provide us with a sense
of comfort", said the winner of the Ramon Magsaysay
Award in 2001 (sic).

What about Papernas then? "Papernas still exists, it
hasn’t disappeared and it hasn’t dissolved into the
PBR", she asserted.

The chairperson of the PBR’s Central Board of
Directors, Bursah Zarnubi said that his party is
endeavouring as much as possible to embrace youth.
Moreover, 30 of the PBR’s legislative candidates are
still under the age of 30. The party’s quota for
legislative candidates above the age of 50 is only
15-20 percent. "New voters must be politically
literate. Don’t let the party become an oligarchy",
he said.

With regard to the agenda for a presidential
candidate convention that the PBR plans to hold,
Zarnubi explained that Central Board of Director
functionaries, including himself, will not be
allowed to take part in the convention. "So it is
impartial and fair so people don’t doubt the PBR’s
commitment. If there are PBR people who are put
forward, there will certainly be an internal
sentiment," he explained.

Present at the event to launch the PBR’s electoral
number of 29 in Jakarta on August 2 were party
Deputy General Chairperson Raden Muhammad Syafi’i
and the PBR’s General Secretary Rusman Ali. The
event was also enlivened by artists Dewi Yul and
Franky Sahilatua. Yul is reportedly being ’enticed’
by the PBR to become one of its legislative
candidates. Senior Golkar Party politician and
former House of Representatives speaker Akbar
Tandjung also came to the event. (pri)

* From Java Post - August 3, 2008.

[Translated by James Balowski.]

Dita Sari and friends ’changes clothes’, join Star Reform Party

Laurencius Simanjuntak, Jakarta — It appears that
the phenomena of ’changing cloths’ is becoming
commonplace in the lead up to the 2009 general
elections. The Chairperson of the National
Liberation Party of Unity (Papernas) Advisory Board,
Dita Indah Sari, along with a number of her party
colleagues have followed suit and joined the Reform
Star Party (PBR).

"I have become a member of PBR, and I have put
myself forward to become a legislative candidate. My
colleagues meanwhile, not Papernas as an
institution, around 40 people [have also joined the
PBR]," said the former student activist from the
1990s when met by journalists after attending the
PBR’s electoral number launching at the offices of
the PBR’s central board of directors on Jl. KH
Abdullah Syafii in Tebet, South Jakarta, on Saturday
August 2.

Sari did this because through her own party — a
party that will not be participating in the
elections — she cannot convey her political
aspirations. "I have tried to establish a party,
Papernas. But we [faced] many obstacles, that were
physical in character, even violence in several
places", said the woman whose former party was not
verified by the General Elections Commission.

Sari said that although she had moved house, there
are no parties that are truly clean. She moved
because she wanted her political aspirations to find
an outlet. “[I] looked for the best from the worse,”
she asserted.

Papernas members were involved in physical clashes
with the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the
Betawi Brotherhood Forum on March 29, 2007. The FPI
considers Papernas to following a leftist course and
to be taking up communist values. (lrn/gah)

* From Detik.com - August 2, 2008.

Notes:

In a separate article on the same day, Detik.com
reported that also present at the launch was Golkar
Party powerbroker Akbar Tanjung, a number of
celebrities including singers Dewi Yul (who is also
considering running as a PBR candidate) and Franky
Sahilatua, activist Ratna Sarumpaet, and
representatives of 29 worker, farmer and street
trader organisations, Mosque leaders, orphans and
homeless people.

[Translated by James Balowski.]