Golkar cracks under strong public pressure

Golkar cracks under strong public pressure

Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Golkar's previously solid leadership is now cracking under
relentless public pressure for Akbar Tandjung to quit his post as
Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR), with more leaders
also demanding that the convicted corrupter relinquish his Golkar
chairmanship to save the party.

Agung Laksono revealed over the weekend that he too had urged
Akbar, who was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to three
years in jail, to resign from the Golkar chairmanship.

Earlier, Golkar leaders Aulia Rachman, Fahmi Idris, Marwah
Daud Ibrahim, Marzuki Darusman and Theo L. Sambuaga had told
Akbar to quit during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday night.

Agung said that the party leaders who asked Akbar to resign
had no personal grudge against the House Speaker.

"We did so to save everybody (in the party) and so that all
sides concerned are not prejudiced and dragged into the problem
Akbar is facing," Agung was quoted by Antara as saying in
Cirebon, West Java, on Saturday.

If Akbar were to resign, Golkar, Akbar himself and everybody
else in the party would be saved, Agung said.

"If we all have to wait until a final and binding verdict is
handed down in Akbar's case, while it is uncertain when that will
happen, the party will suffer," he stressed.

Agung's call is considered as the second serious blow to
Akbar's grip over Golkar since a similar call from Marwah Daud.

If Agung is generally believed to represent party leaders
coming from a former Golkar mass organization, Kosgoro, Marwah
Daud is believed to have spoken on behalf of the party's Eastern
Indonesia Caucus, known by its Indonesian acronym of Iramasuka,
which stands for Irian, Maluku, Sulawesi, and Kalimantan.

Senior Golkar leader Marzuki Darusman told The Jakarta Post on
Sunday that more and more Golkar leaders were calling for Akbar's
resignation, but he refused to give details.

"We don't want to specify the number (of those suggesting that
Akbar resign). This is not a matter of voting," Marzuki said.

He also said that although a series of party meetings had
agreed to maintain Akbar as party chairman, things could still
change.

"We have a mandate to keep Akbar in his position, but we are
aware that this can change at any time. The conviction of Akbar
has had a bad impact on Golkar," Marzuki told the Post by phone.

Golkar co-chairman Rambe Kamarulzaman, however, said that the
number of party leaders suggesting that Akbar resign was only
three, namely Fahmi Idris, Marwah Daud and Theo Sambuaga.

The other three figures only leaked the results of the closed-
door meeting to the public. "They are only acting as
spokespersons," he said.

Akbar ally Ferry Mursyidan Baldan accused those who leaked
what happened during the closed-door meeting to the public of
trying to use the issue to unseat Akbar.

"They are jumping onto the morality bandwagon to get power,"
he said without naming anyone.

A series of meetings have been organized in response to the
unexpected demands for Akbar to resign. The latest was a meeting
of Golkar's board of advisers on Friday night.

The two-hour meeting concluded that Akbar should remain in the
top party post, and that all members of Golkar should back him
during the legal process.