South China Morning Post
Tuesday  April 1  1997
Indonesia 
   
              President's daughter in bid to woo Muslim vote 
                                      
   ANALYSIS by Jenny Grant in Jakarta
   The appearance of President Suharto's daughter, Siti Hardiyanti
   Rukmana, with Indonesia's most influential Muslim leader, Abdurrahman
   Wahid, at a weekend rally signifies the beginnings of a powerful
   alliance.
   
   Ms Rukmana, the deputy chairman of the ruling Golkar party, appeared
   at the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) meeting in Semarang, central Java, along
   with her military ally, army chief General Hartono. The 30-million
   strong NU is Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation.
   
   The President's daughter shied away from wearing the usual Golkar
   party yellow, donning a white-lace Islamic head dress for her
   15-minute speech.
   
   Experts see Ms Rukmana's appearance as the start of an alliance
   between NU, Golkar and a pro-Suharto faction of the military before
   the May 29 election.
   
   Pro-government analyst Amir Santoso said: "There is an effort from
   both sides to get close to each other for the election."
   
   Mr Wahid, also known as Gus Dur, said the event was mutually
   beneficial to Golkar and NU. "It's not taking sides in the elections.
   It is reciprocal. We introduce her to the crowd and she uses the
   opportunity to pull the crowd to Golkar."
   
   Mr Wahid said NU members could vote for whatever party they wanted at
   the polls in which 120 million Indonesians are expected to cast
   ballots for one of the three official parties - Golkar, the
   Muslim-oriented United Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic
   Party.
   
   Mr Wahid said he wanted to give Ms Rukmana the chance to enhance her
   image among NU members.
   
   "She is a rising star and we think she will go far," he said.
   
   "We have done this for other well-known people and maybe we will do it
   for her brother, Bambang, too."
   
   Bambang Trihatmodjo, Mr Suharto's second eldest son, is a successful
   businessman with interests in broadcasting, construction and
   telecommunications. He is also the treasurer of Golkar.
   
   Mr Wahid has been an outspoken supporter of democracy in Indonesia.
   His Democracy Forum group campaigns on human rights issues and he
   wields great political clout.
   
   About 90 per cent of Indonesia's 200 million people follow Islam.
   
   Mr Santoso said: "For a long time, Gus Dur has been a government
   opponent. Now he wants to move closer to the Government, both for his
   personal ambition and because of pressure from inside NU."