Golkar chairman Tadjus Sobirin to be replaced

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar Party city chapter chairman Tadjus Sobirin will likely be replaced in an expedited congress this month, a councillor said on Wednesday.

Golkar councillor Amarullah Asbah revealed that the congress would be based on demands from Golkar's North Jakarta chapter and one from another mayoralty, and several districts which were disappointed with Tadjus's leadership.

"The chapters argued that the party needed 'new blood', since Tadjus had led the city chapter for two terms," said Amarullah, who is also the party's city chapter's deputy secretary.

Golkar holds its congress once every five years. The last congress took place four years ago.

Tadjus, who is a member of the council's commission B for economic affairs, rarely attended the commission's hearings. He could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Amarullah said the party's central board had set up a steering committee and an organizing committee for the congress.

"The congress will be conducted this month, we haven't decided the date," Amarullah, who is also chairman of the Council's Commission C for city revenue, told reporters.

He said the central board had assigned legislator Yahya Zaini to chair the steering committee and councillor Sugeng Supriatna to head the organizing committee.

Several names have been mentioned as replacements for Tadjus, including councillors Amarullah, Sugeng, Ade Suraprijatna and Fathomy Ashari.

Amarullah, who is a Betawi (indigenous Jakartan) figure, said he would appoint young people to help him lead the party's city chapter if he were elected.

"I have no ambition to lead the party's city chapter. I'm already 56 years old," he said.

Amarullah, who was a former chairman of the city chapter of Ansor, the youth wing of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Muslim organization, was once a councillor representing the United Development Party (PPP) in 1987. He joined PPP, as NU declared that it would leave politics and allow its people to join political parties. In the early 1990s he turned to Golkar.

Tadjus, a retired army colonel, has chaired the Golkar Party's city chapter since 1992. He is a former Tangerang regent.

In his earlier term, Tadjus, managed to lead the party and won an election in the city, defeating PPP, which had won in the previous polls.

In the 1999 elections, however, Golkar ranked only fourth in the city after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, PPP and the National Mandate Party. It secured eight seats on the council.(jun)