Golkar in opposition?

Golkar in opposition?

In the midst of the recent agitation over the use by the House
of Representatives right of interpellation -- which Golkar also
supported -- the party's chairman Akbar Tanjung announced that
Golkar was ready to go into opposition.

The word "ready" has given the public reason to sneer at the
idea as it is perceived to reflect Golkar's forever-wavering
character. Now it hesitates to go into opposition, yet it is also
hesitant to stay in the Cabinet.

It is this inherent nature of Golkar that has prevented Gus
Dur's (President Abdurrahman Wahid's) Cabinet from performing
satisfactorily -- a failure which Akbar has strongly criticized.
It is this character, too, that made Golkar willing to be used as
the New Order's political vehicle for more than three decades.

Golkar needs to go through a period of attrition -- a period
in which to say mea culpa to the Indonesian public. Without the
courage to admit its errors of the past, Golkar will remain
utterly vulnerable to the public's antipathy.

-- Media Indonesia, Jakarta