Akbar under more pressure to resign from top post

Akbar under more pressure to resign from top post

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Golkar Party cadres from the party's founding organizations piled
more pressure on party chairman Akbar Tandjung on Saturday to
quit his post to rid the party of its bad image in the run-up to
the 2004 general election.

Members of the MKGR, SOKSI, and Kosgoro -- three major
organizations that helped establish Golkar -- issued a written
statement in Yogyakarta on Saturday calling on Akbar to resign.

"We sincerely want to prick Akbar Tandjung's conscience so
that he will lucidly and rationally consider temporarily stepping
down from his present post," read a statement released by the
organizations at a press conference here on Sunday.

The statement, titled Renungan Yogya (Yogya Contemplation),
was issued following an overnight discussion involving 170
leaders and members of the MKGR, SOKSI and Kosgoro on Golkar's
prospects in the 2004 general election.

Among those attending the discussion were Agung Laksono from
Kosgoro, who is also Golkar's deputy chairman, MKGR chairman
Irsyad Sudiro and the MKGR's deputy chairman Zainal Bintang.

Speaking at the press conference, Zainal Bintang said that
Akbar's resignation from the party's top post would be the best
solution to save the Golkar Party from a trouncing in the 2004
general election.

"Unless he resigns from the post, we are not sure if we will
be able to maintain, much less increase, our share of the vote,"
said Bintang.

"However, everything is up to Akbar. But he should not forget
that if he persists in staying on in his current post, it will
not be fair on the party. It will ruin the party in the coming
election," he said.

He noted that the cost of maintaining Akbar in his current
position would be too high for the party to bear. "We could lose
half of the votes we took in the last election," he said.

Agung Laksono is among those inside the party who have openly
asked Akbar to step aside following Akbar's conviction in a Rp 40
billion (US$4.4. million) corruption case.

Other Golkar executives who have also called for Akbar's
resignation include Marwah Daud Ibrahim, Fahmi Idris and Theo
Sambuaga.

In an apparent bid at damage limitation, Akbar had threatened
to sanction those calling on him to resign.

However, Akbar made an about face on Sunday when he said he
would not fire any party members demanding his resignation.

"The calls from a number of party members for me to step down
or resign are normal in a democracy, and I appreciate these
different opinions," he said, adding that there had been talk of
his resignation, but it was an internal issue.

Akbar claimed his party was still solid and the majority of
Golkar members wanted him to stay on until the legal process had
been completed.

Akbar admitted that he had been found guilty by the judges but
he insisted that he still had the right to chair the party as he
was appealing the verdict. -- Antara