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.