Akbar concedes fissures in Golkar Party

Akbar concedes fissures in Golkar Party

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung said on
Thursday he suspected members of the party's inner circle of
spreading dissension in a bid to topple him.

Akbar was commenting on a letter dated Aug. 14 signed by 12
Golkar provincial chapters, in which call for an extraordinary
executive meeting to present a no-confidence motion against Akbar
if he failed to take action against his controversial deputy
Marzuki Darusman.

"Some people want Marzuki to leave the party, but it's
possible that they eventually will target me," Akbar said in a
televised interview on TVRI on Thursday evening.

Most of the signatories were from the traditional Golkar
strongholds of eastern Indonesia, provinces which garnered
substantial votes for the ruling party in the June elections.

The statement cited Marzuki's alleged role behind revealing
the scandal which linked the party and privately owned Bank Bali,
accusing him of damaging the party's integrity, authority and
pro-reform image.

Marzuki has also repeatedly suggested that Golkar review its
nomination of incumbent B.J. Habibie for the presidency if it
fails to gain enough support for its presidential bid.

Bank Bali paid PT Era Giat Prima, a private company owned by
Golkar deputy treasurer Setya Novanto, a Rp 546 billion (US$80
million) "commission" to help it recover loans worth Rp 904
billion from three other banks closed down by the government.

Critics however, allege the money was to finance a bid by
Habibie to win the upcoming presidential election.

Marzuki, who is leading an investigation into the scandal,
said earlier that the affair could jeopardize Habibie's
candidacy.

Akbar defended Marzuki on Thursday, denouncing the
participating Golkar chapters as carrying out a campaign of
terror in pressing other chapter leaders to sign the statement
and for distributing unidentified circulars.

"Why should they use such techniques? We can talk at a meeting
any time," Akbar said after opening a seminar on state policy
guidelines.

"This issue has been brought to the party's leadership meeting
several times before, but every time I explained (the matter)
nobody raised any questions."

He said he regretted the letter circulated within the party,
which followed an overnight party leadership meeting on Aug. 13
attended by 26 chapter leaders and in which Akbar defended his
outspoken deputy.

"Marzuki's attitude has not been running against Golkar's
leadership meeting. In assessing the situation, he continues to
show the analytical disposition of an intellectual," Akbar said.

Akbar said he knew who had instigated the statement, but
refused to identify the person(s).

"As a Muslim, I'm not allowed to accuse somebody without
evidence," he said.

Akbar said he would invite the signatories to verify their
stance, clarify matters that remained unclear and cross-check on
the identity of the individual(s) responsible for the move. He
said no action would be taken against the instigators.

The chairman of Golkar's West Nusa Tenggara chapter had
retracted his support for the move, he said.

Separately, Marzuki said the pressure for a vote of no-
confidence against Akbar was "engineered by Habibie's people".

"Clearly, this is a move which is being masterminded by people
around the President, and is a reaction against the disclosure of
the Bank Bali scandal," Marzuki told The Jakarta Post on
Thursday.

"Resorting to this kind of action shows the extent of certain
people's desperation," he said.

When pressed further as to the involvement of chairman of the
Supreme Advisory Council and senior Golkar functionary A.A.
Baramuli, who is known to be one of Habibie's staunch supporters,
Marzuki said: "I can only say that that name keeps coming up now
and then, and he will also have to be asked whether he knew or
had anything to do with this (move).

"As a matter of fact, the name of Mr. Edi Baramuli, who is
supposedly related to Mr. Baramuli, came up in a meeting that
Golkar held several days ago, and he was the person who initially
raised this matter and therefore it would seem too coincidental
if these matters were not related in any way," Marzuki said
referring to the deputy chairman of Golkar's South Sulawesi
chapter.

Marzuki said the demand for an extraordinary meeting to oust
him was an exaggerated demand.

"To call for an extraordinary meeting of Golkar is very
serious, and one has to have a very good reason for doing it, so
if there is no overriding reason, then one can assume that these
efforts originate from a very high level."

Marzuki said the party could decide to ask Habibie whether he
was aware of the petition.

In an interview aired on Thursday evening by private station
SCTV, Baramuli supported the move to sack Marzuki, saying he
lacked allegiance to the party's policies. (byg/amd)