Akbar ready to face contenders at party congress
Akbar ready to face contenders at party congress
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Seasoned politician Akbar Tandjung said on Tuesday that he was
ready to face any challenger in the upcoming Golkar National
Congress to elect the leader of the country's largest political
party.
Speaking in his wife's hometown of Surakarta, Central Java,
Akbar said he was prepared to lead the party for another five-
year term.
"I'm ready to retain the leadership as there are a lot of
duties that I didn't finish in the last five years," Akbar,
former House of Representatives speaker, was quoted as saying by
Antara.
Golkar, which won the April 5 general election with 129 of 550
House seats, will hold a congress to elect new party leaders next
month.
So far, only Golkar executive Marwah Daud Ibrahim has
expressed an intention to challenge Abkar at the congress.
"My focus of attention in the next five years will be to build
and consolidate the party. I am not thinking of running for
president," Akbar said.
Experts have suggested that should Akbar retain the Golkar
leadership, he would likely run for the presidency in 2009.
Golkar nominated former military chief Gen. Wiranto in the
July 5 presidential election, and backed Megawati Soekarnoputri
in the Sept. 20 runoff.
Akbar has been widely credited for consolidating Golkar amid
public demands for its dissolution for supporting former
president Soeharto for more than three decades.
Under his leadership, Golkar won the 2004 general election
after slipping to second place behind the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the 1999 elections.
Golkar's five-day congress is slated to start on Dec. 15.
Akbar said that his priority after the congress would be to
ensure that Golkar members won the direct elections of regional
leaders across the country, which will begin in June next year.
Commenting on his ongoing dispute with fellow Golkar
politician Minister of Manpower and Transmigration Fahmi Idris,
Akbar said he was ready to reconcile with him.
"He can always come back to the party if he admits that he
violated party policy. Such a statement is important," he said.
Fahmi and several other Golkar members were dismissed from the
party for disregarding the party's leaders instruction to support
Megawati Soekarnoputri in the presidential election runoff on
Sept. 20.
Fahmi instead supported Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who won the
election.
Akbar said he had appointed other respected members of the
party, including Aulia Rachman, Fredy Latuconsina and current
House Speaker Agung Laksono, to facilitate reconciliation with
Fahmi and the others.