Akbar restricts his rivals' movements

Akbar restricts his rivals' movements

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With the legislative election 22-day campaigning period for
the 24 political parties only six days away, Golkar Party leader
Akbar Tandjung revealed on Friday his strategy to strengthen his
position against his political rivals within the party.

Speaking in a media briefing, Akbar, who was recently
acquitted by the Supreme Court in a corruption case, pointed out
that the party's five other presidential aspirants had been
assigned to campaign only in Java and Bali.

The House of Representatives (DPR) speaker cited the fact that
53 percent of the country's total voters lived in these two
islands as the reason for such an assignment.

The party is targeting at least 35 percent of the vote, or 42
million voters, in next month's election. About 147 million
voters are eligible to vote this year.

Akbar is free to campaign in all provinces throughout the
country.

"All the presidential aspirants that take part in the
convention must campaign according to the schedule that we have
arranged. As for me, I'll try to campaign in every province in
Indonesia," said Akbar.

Apart from Akbar, Golkar has also selected former Indonesian
Military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto, former chief of the Army's
Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo
Subianto, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla,
businessman Aburizal Bakrie and media entrepreneur Surya Paloh as
its presidential hopefuls.

Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X was also on the
list. He resigned from the race, probably due to the low level of
support he received from the party.

Despite protest from his opponents, Akbar succeeded in getting
the party to agree that the convention to elect the party's sole
candidate to run in July's presidential election be held only
after the legislative election on April 5. It was seen by his
rivals as Akbar's tactic to delay the convention until he was
exonerated by the Supreme Court.

In a recent discussion with The Jakarta Post, Akbar said the
party was ready to fight head-to-head with the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in Java and Bali. The party
of incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri swept votes in
these two islands in the 1999 general elections. Golkar, however,
fared better in the provinces away from these? two islands at
that time.

The situation helped the former ruling party to win 22.42
percent of the vote, compared with PDI-P's 33.7 percent. Several
polls showed that Golkar, which was established by former
president Soeharto and became his political machine during his
32-year rule, could win the April election.

Meanwhile, party deputy secretary-general Rully Chairul
announced that the party had recruited controversial dangdut
singer Inul Darasista to perform during the party's campaigns,
along with Cici Paramida and Uut Permatasari.

"Inul Daratista has confirmed that she will join us for
several campaign meetings. However, she is free to join other
parties after she has completed her shows for us," said Rully.

PDI-P has also expressed an intention to recruit Inul. In the
previous election the presence of top dangdut singers in
campaigns was more effective in wooing people to attend campaign
meetings than campaigners' speeches, in which they outlined their
election promises.