Page 240 - BUKU A CENTURY OF PARLIAMENTARY LIFE IN INDONESIA

DPR-RI DURING THE NEW ORDER:
STRENGTHENING THE ROLE OF THE STATE (1967-1998)

Megawati, not only in Surakarta but also in various cities in Java, such as
Semarang, Malang, Surabaya, and Jakarta. Megawati’s supporters joined
the PPP campaign without losing their identity as Megawati’s supporters.

The phenomenon of “Mega-Star” significantly became a widespread
discourse during the campaign. When the PPP masses were campaigning,
both the campaign participants and the public sympathizers always
made codes (symbols) on their fingers with the numbers 1 and 3 as
symbols of PPP and Megawati’s PDI. Not to be missed, the red-green
flag with the words “Mega-Star” was also raised and hoisted, such as
during the PPP campaign in Jakarta on 8 May 1997. The crowd consisting
of tens of thousands of PPP sympathizers was like
drowning Jakarta in a sea of green, the color of the
PPP uniform. The crowd also paraded Megawati’s
image. In fact, at that time, Megawati did not take
part in the election because she was at odds with Seeing the unfavorable
the PDI, which was led by Soerjadi. development of

Seeing the unfavorable development of the situ- the situation, the
ation, the Government responded by issuing a Government responded
ban on carrying “Mega-Star” banners and cos-
tumes in the campaign. The resistant masses in- by issuing a ban on
stead came up with a political pun to get around carrying “Mega-Star”
the ban. As a result, there appeared banners that banners and costumes
were written with the word “Megang-Bintang”
(Touching the Star) and other idioms that wanted in the campaign.
to show that Megawati’s supporters were still able
to express themselves in the election campaign.

The Mega-Star issue emerged as the antithesis
of Golkar’s hegemony which it always won since the 1971 general elec-
tion. PPP and PDI residents wanted change, including the replacement
of President Suharto. At that time, there was a discourse that supported
Megawati as President of the Republic of Indonesia, and her deputy was
Buya Ismail Hasan Metareum, General Chairman of PPP. This was one
form of resistance from the election participants to not “become Golkar”.

Two months after the 1997 general elections were held, the financial crisis
or monetary crisis hit almost all of East Asia and Southeast Asia in July
1997, including Indonesia. For this reason, in October 1997, the Govern-
ment invited the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to assist in the crisis
recovery program in Indonesia.

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