Golkar chapters support Habibie's candidacy: Akbar

Golkar chapters support Habibie's candidacy: Akbar

JAKARTA (JP): The ruling Golkar Party has reiterated its
presidential nomination of President B.J. Habibie for the next
General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
despite mounting opposition to the incumbent.

Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung said after the party's meeting
on Friday that all provincial Golkar chapters in 27 provinces
unanimously supported Habibie's nomination for the presidency in
the next MPR General Session.

"It is a surprise that all provincial chapters expressed
support for Habibie's nomination as its presidential
candidate... And they agreed to appoint the party's central
board as a success team to conduct lobbies and approach other
parties," he said.

He acknowledged in the party's meeting in May that six
provincial chapters did not explicitly support Habibie's
nomination. East Timor had abstained. The six were North Sumatra,
Riau, Lampung, West Java, East Java and Yogyakarta.

"However, Habibie's nomination is the party's decision and
stance and we will respect it," he said.

Akbar's deputy Marzuki Darusman said on Thursday there were
growing calls to replace Habibie's nomination.

He said Habibie was nominated by Golkar Party in May in the
hopes that the party would win 40 percent of the total vote, but
provisional tallies showed otherwise, with the party trailing far
behind the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan).

Marzuki also expressed doubt on Friday that all provinces had
supported Habibie's nomination.

"I did not hear all 27 provincial party chapters give
unanimous support to Habibie's candidacy during the meeting... I
will have to confirm that again with the party chapters," Marzuki
told AFP.

He earlier said the nomination of Habibie would be
disadvantageous to Golkar, given, among other things, the
impression of his foot-dragging in investigations into alleged
corruption by his former mentor and predecessor, Soeharto.

However, Akbar insisted there was no debate during the
meeting.

Provincial party chapter leaders could not be reached for
comment.

Akbar regretted on Friday that Golkar grabbed only 26 percent
of the vote so far, or 120 seats at the House of Representatives,
saying that it was far below the party's target of about 41
percent.

He blamed the bad performance on intimidations and terror
against the party over the past year.

Golkar reported 114 cases of election violations which
victimized the party to the official Election Supervisory
Committee, he said. Among them was the attack on Akbar when he
was in Central Java during the campaign season.

"Despite ongoing reform and changes in the party, we have been
terrorized and defamed... Opinions were made that Golkar is a
pro-status quo party," he said.

After the meeting, Akbar also dismissed reports of "success
teams" lobbying for Habibie's nomination using money.

"We have never engineered such teams... ," he said, adding
there was nothing wrong if any groups wanted to garner support
for Habibie.

Prominent businessmen inside and outside Golkar have
reportedly collected huge sums of money to buy support for the
president's reelection. The sums exceeded far above the legal
maximum of Rp 15 million from an individual and Rp 150 million
from a corporate body in a single year.

Kontan weekly cited on Friday a cheque of Rp 30 billion sent
to the party's election winning team and a donation of Rp 10
billion sent to a party treasurer from a garment firm.

Akbar stated a denial in the weekly, but said he would check
with the treasurer.

In Bandung, West Java, the two-day national meeting of the
Indonesian Muslim Intellectual Association (ICMI), previously
chaired by Habibie, was also expected to discuss national
leadership.

ICMI chairman Achmad Tirtosudiro said on Friday the agenda,
including the possibility of discussing the next presidency,
would be up to provincial chapters.

"Who is better than Habibie?" Achmad said, adding he was
quoting noted politics lecturer Ichlasul Amal.

Also expected to attend the ICMI meeting which begins on
Saturday is Amien Rais, chairman of the National Mandate Party
(PAN).(rms/43)