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)