Golkar's Jakarta chapter to elect new chairman<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Golkar's Jakarta chapter announced yesterday
\nthat it plans to hold a two-day regional congress next week to
\nelect a new chairman for the 1998\/2000 period, the chapter
\nchairman said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Serving chairman Tadjus Sobirin, who was included on a list of
\nnine candidates for the new chairmanship, said the congress was
\nscheduled to start on Aug. 28.<\/p>\n
"I'm ready to contest the election with the other candidates,"
\nhe added.<\/p>\n
He will line up against Sugeng Suprijatna and Ade Surapriatna,
\nboth city council deputy speakers, former deputy governor for
\ndevelopment affairs TB.M. Rais, deputy governor for
\nadministrative affairs Abdul Kahfi, head of the council's Armed
\nForces (ABRI) faction Sumekar K.W., ABRI faction member Dudi
\nSugiandi, Asmawi Manaf, a member of the executive board of the
\nGolkar's Jakarta chapter, and Ahmadi, a former head of Golkar's
\nJakarta chapter.<\/p>\n
The nomination of Kahfi, Sumekar and Dudi was strongly
\ncriticized by Golkar cadre Amir Hamzah on the grounds that all
\nthree were serving members of the Armed Forces.<\/p>\n
Amir said that serving Armed Forces personnel were prohibited
\nfrom leading Golkar which meant that if one of the trio was
\nsuccessful in the election then he would have to resign from the
\nArmed Forces. "But I do not think there would enough time to
\nprocess any such move and so they should be excluded from the
\nlist," he added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Golkar's factional head in the City Council,
\nFatommy Asaari, said yesterday that Golkar could only expect to
\ngain about 25 percent of votes in the capital in next year's
\ngeneral election, a sharp drop from the 57 percent it recorded
\nlast year.<\/p>\n
He added that even reaching this humble target would not be an
\neasy task because Golkar's name had become closely linked with
\ncorruption, collusion and nepotism. He was speaking from a
\nspecial event to mark the 53rd anniversary of Indonesian
\nindependence at Golkar's Jakarta chapter headquarters in Central
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
To mark yesterday's anniversary Golkar sold poor people 1,000
\npackages of food containing rice, cooking oil and sugar for Rp
\n7,500 each.<\/p>\n
Fatommy said that Jakartans were now more critical of
\npoliticians because news of their illicit practices was now
\nreported frequently and with impunity by the mass media.<\/p>\n
"That's why it will be difficult to get votes in the election
\nunless Golkar members work hard (to end these practices)," he
\nsaid, refusing to identify those in his faction who are currently
\ninvolved in malfeasance.<\/p>\n
The capital had 7.45 million eligible voters in the 1997
\nelection, 65 percent (4.45 million) of whom voted for Golkar. The
\nUnited Development Party (PPP) came second with 32.3 percent
\n(2.24 million) of the votes while the Indonesian Democratic Party
\n(PDI) won the support of a mere 1.7 percent of the capital's
\nelectorate. (ind)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/golkars-jakarta-chapter-to-elect-new-chairman-1447893297",
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