Golkar celebrates with harsh critique on government

Golkar celebrates with harsh critique on government

JAKARTA (JP): The Golkar party celebrated its 34th anniversary
on Sunday with a stinging critique of the government's failure to
stamp out corruption and collusion and charged that the executive
body was no better than the past highly criticized Golkar
administrations.

"Many people spoke out against corruption, collusion and
nepotism when Golkar was in power but elements in the current
government conduct the same practices," party chairman Akbar
Tandjung said during celebration at the grounds of the Cipanas
Palace gardens in West Java.

Akbar, who is also speaker of the House of Representatives,
criticized the way President Abdurrahman Wahid managed the
government saying that it was no better than Golkar when it was
in power.

He said corruption and collusion were just as evident.

"The trend of these illegal practices should be fought based
on our commitment in the reform era," he remarked.

Akbar claimed the new Golkar of today had thoroughly self-
introspected and accepted that it was no longer in power, evident
in the fact that none of the Cabinet ministers came from Golkar,
except for Attorney General Marzuki Darusman.

He noted that after two and a half years of humiliation,
public trust was slowly returning to the party.

"It's okay being outside of the government. To return to
power, we just have to wait for the right time," Akbar remarked
as quoted by Antara.

He said the return of public trust also boosted the spirit of
the party's executives in its preparations to win the 2004
general election.

The celebrations were belated as Golkar was established on
Oct. 20. Commemorations had to be postponed due to the Inter-
Parliamentary Union (IPU) conference. (jun)