Leftist groups out to destroy Golkar: Team<\/p>\n
A'an Suryana and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A team established to save Golkar is accusing certain leftist
\ngroups of trying to dissolve the party by exploiting corruption
\nallegations against its chairman Akbar Tandjung, a suspect in a
\nRp 54.6 billion financial scandal involving the State Logistics
\nAgency (Bulog).<\/p>\n
"We consider Akbar to be their intermediate target only. Their
\nultimate goal is former president Soeharto, the Indonesian
\nmilitary and Golkar," team member Suhardiman said in Jakarta on
\nSunday.<\/p>\n
He refused, however, to name the groups, saying only that they
\nwere in the leftist-oriented camps.<\/p>\n
Golkar, the main political bandwagon of former dictator
\nSoeharto, has once again come under intense public scrutiny
\nfollowing the announcement by the Attorney General's Office that
\nits chairman Akbar, who is also the speaker of the House of
\nRepresentatives (DPR), had been charged as a suspect in a high
\nprofile financial scandal that took place when he was
\nminister\/state secretary during former president B.J. Habibie's
\nshort stint in 1999.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office has scheduled Feb. 4 as the
\nfirst day on which Akbar will be investigated as a suspect. A
\nguilty verdict, if the case is ever brought to court at all,
\nwould inevitably lead to Golkar's dissolution as the funds were
\nallegedly used by the party to finance its campaign in the 1999
\ngeneral election.<\/p>\n
To save it from being dissolved, Golkar has formed a "Party
\nSalvation Council", whose main task is to distance the party from
\nits chairman Akbar.<\/p>\n
The council, which was formed last Thursday during a meeting
\nbetween the party's board of patrons and its central executive
\ncommittee, is headed by former housing minister Cosmas Batubara,
\nwith members including Suhardiman, Arnold A. Baramuli, Muladi and
\nPinantun Hutasoit.<\/p>\n
Suhardiman, who once earned himself the title of "political
\nsoothsayer", said on Sunday that the leftist groups had found
\nfresh ammunition against Golkar, the second biggest faction in
\nthe House with 120 members, since the financial scam first
\nsurfaced in 2001.<\/p>\n
Asked if the efforts to rescue Golkar included plans to remove
\nAkbar from the party's chairmanship, Suhardiman emphasized that
\nhis "rescue team" did not deal with operational matters, such as
\nthe decision to hold an extraordinary congress.<\/p>\n
"We will only offer suggestions and advice. The decisions will
\ndepend on the executive board," he said.<\/p>\n
Another team member, Muladi, said over the weekend that the
\nrescue team was established to identify the potential dangers of
\nAkbar's corruption case by launching its own investigation into
\nthe scandal.<\/p>\n
The investigation, he said, was aimed at finding out and
\nclarifying whether or not the scam originally emanated from the
\nparty, or whether it was simply Akbar's personal responsibility.<\/p>\n
"If the party is not involved in the scam, we must fight all
\nout to clear our name. For Akbar, he would have his own corner to
\nfight as it would be then his personal responsibility," said
\nMuladi on Saturday.<\/p>\n
None of the Party Salvation Council's members are Akbar
\nconfidantes.<\/p>\n
Muladi asserted that the scam should not be immediately linked
\nto the Golkar Party, despite the fact that it involved party
\nchairman Akbar.<\/p>\n
"To say that Golkar is involved in the scam, this is a
\ndifficult allegation to prove. Golkar has been audited by the
\nNational Election Commission (KPU), and it was also audited while
\nwe were involved in a legal battle with 11 other parties in the
\nSupreme Court. Those two audits have proved that Golkar never
\nused part of the Bulog funds," he said.<\/p>\n
The 11 parties referred to demanded last year that Golkar be
\ndissolved, or at least banned from running in the 2004 general
\nelection, for fraud in the last general election. Their demand,
\nhowever, was thrown out of court due to lack of evidence.<\/p>\n
Muladi said that a clarification was very important to
\nrehabilitate Golkar's image, which had been in ruins ever since
\nthe start of the reform era.<\/p>\n
"This image rehabilitation is important if Golkar intends to
\nwin the next election in 2004," he said.<\/p>\n
He revealed that the committee would push the Attorney
\nGeneral's Office to speed up the investigation into the Bulog
\nscam.<\/p>\n
"The legal process must be accelerated in order to avoid
\npolitical speculation," he said.<\/p>\n
He claimed that Golkar would help Akbar to deal with the case.<\/p>\n
"Akbar must be backed by professional lawyers, and as a symbol
\nof solidarity, Golkar will provide other lawyers who will give
\nhim political advice," he explained.<\/p>\n
Muladi said that the party would also push for a snap
\nextraordinary Golkar congress.<\/p>\n
Muladi denied, however, that such a congress would represent
\nan attempt to topple Akbar from the chairmanship, in part to rid
\nthe party of Akbar's bad image.<\/p>",
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