Akbar leads preliminary race for Golkar chairman

Akbar leads preliminary race for Golkar chairman

JAKARTA (JP): The secretary of Golkar's board of patrons,
Akbar Tandjung, yesterday led the preliminary race for the
chairmanship with two votes ahead of rival Edi Sudradjat.

An evening session Thursday and a morning session yesterday,
which heard Golkar's regional chapters' evaluation on the
outgoing leadership's performance and their view on the future,
revealed that 10 out of 27 chapters supported Akbar's nomination.

Eight proclaimed their support for Edi, while the rest did not
reveal whom they backed.

Support for Akbar, who is also minister/state secretary, came
from Aceh, North and West Sumatra, Riau, East Kalimantan, Irian
Jaya and the four provinces of Sulawesi.

Edi, former minister of defense and security, won the support
of Golkar's chapters in Jakarta, West, Central and East Java,
Bali, East and West Nusa Tenggara and West Kalimantan.

But both candidates yesterday refused to comment on the
preliminary expressions of support.

Akbar said he would only comment after the final election
results today, while Edi said it was difficult to say anything
since "the election has not even started yet".

But Edi still expressed optimism and hinted he would sweep the
nine undecided chapters.

With lobbying going on on the sidelines of the congress,
rumors were rife of support being bought or traded.

Akbar and Edi said they had no idea about such practices of
"money politics".

"I can't comment on alleged practices of money politics until
I get evidence," Akbar said. However, he did not dismiss the
possibility that such practices were being used.

Outgoing Golkar chairman Harmoko was confident that leaders of
Golkar's regional chapters would not succumb to such "bribery".

A member of the outgoing board of patrons, Hayono Isman,
decried such "dirty" practices.

"Practices of money politics have been used in this country
for more than 30 years," the former state minister of youth
affairs and sports told journalists. "In line with the reform
era, it's time to say goodbye to such practices."

The election for Golkar's chairmanship will be held this
afternoon and is expected to be the first time such a decision
will be determined through voting rather than a consensus.

Nevertheless, Edi lamented the fact that some military
officers were fighting against his candidacy.

"I heard that there were some active Armed Forces (ABRI)
officials who had tried to prevent me from running in the
election," he said.

"Golkar will not have the A (ABRI), B (bureaucracy) and G
(social and religious groups) anymore ... Therefore, ABRI is not
supposed to interfere in Golkar's internal affairs anymore."

Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen.
Wiranto had reportedly instructed Assistant to the Armed Forces
chief of Sociopolitical Affairs Maj. Gen. Mardiyanto to telephone
all regional military commanders to influence Golkar's regional
chapters nationwide to vote for Akbar.

Armed Forces spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif was not
available for comment yesterday.

But despite the internal politicking, the three-day congress
which ends today was hailed for being relatively democratic.

"I can tell you that Golkar's congress is being democratically
held," the committee chairman of the extraordinary congress,
Waskito Reksosoedirdjo, told reporters. "It has never happened
before in Golkar's history."

Similarly, a member of the outgoing board of patrons, Sarwono
Kusumaatmadja, also praised the process, saying that regional
chapters were relatively free to support candidates of their own
choosing.

Yesterday's sessions of the extraordinary congress also took
up the issue of nominating candidates for Golkar's secretary-
general. Two names were mentioned as candidates: Maj. Gen.
Koswandi, an instructor at the National Resilience Institute, and
Siswono Yudoshusodo.

In a related development, Golkar legislator Zamharir A.R. said
yesterday that the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) next
disbursement of its bailout package was likely pending the
results of Golkar's congress.

"The US$1 billion loan will only be disbursed between July 12
and July 18 after the completion of Golkar's extraordinary
congress," he told reporters after meeting with President B.J.
Habibie at the Bina Graha presidential office yesterday.

"The IMF was supposed to hold a meeting to discuss the loan
disbursement, but the meeting was delayed until the completion of
Golkar's congress," he said.

Zamharir and a number of legislators from the House of
Representatives (DPR) met with IMF and World Bank officials in
New York early this month to ask for an immediate disbursement of
the aid package. (imn/byg)