Golkar gears up to be opposition party

Golkar gears up to be opposition party

JAKARTA (JP): The Golkar party said here on Thursday that it
would be ready to be an opposition party and hinted that there
would be a shakeup of its central aboard ahead of the 2004
general election.

Reading a draft of the Golkar's political statement at the end
of the party's three-day leadership meeting, Siti Kuraesin of the
party's West Java chapter said "Golkar is ready to be outside of
the government and will play a role as the opposition party".

Golkar deputy chairman Mahadi Sinambela, who was presiding
over the plenary session on Thursday, was quick to add, however,
that the statement was "only a signal" as there had not been any
clear notion in the country so far of "how to be an opposition
party".

Another draft decree said that Golkar "has given the party
chairman (Akbar Tandjung) authority to reshuffle the party's
central board and to postpone the party's national congress until
after the 2004 elections".

As of the 10:30 p.m on Thursday, the drafts had not been
decided as the party's final political statement.

The statement came only two days after Golkar chairman Akbar
Tandjung launched a stinging attack on the government of
President Abdurrahman Wahid saying that its inconsistent and
controversial policies have pushed the nation closer to the brink
of the country's worst multidimensional crisis.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the party's leadership
meeting on Tuesday, Akbar said that "the President has issued
controversial statements and policies and these have been prone
to instability and political uncertainties that in the end will
make the economic recovery even more difficult".

A high-ranking Golkar official told The Jakarta Post last week
that there was little likelihood that the party would be willing
to play a role as an opposition party saying that "there has been
a minimum consensus among the party members that we are not going
to be an opposition party".

He once said that Golkar "does not have the talent to be an
opposition party". (byg)