Golkar names Habibie as presidential candidate

Golkar names Habibie as presidential candidate

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar Party leaders ended their closed-door
haggling early Friday by finally naming incumbent President B.J.
Habibie as its presidential candidate, a decision that inside
critic Marzuki Darusman said would harm the party's chances in
the June 7 general election.

Marzuki, who is also the party's deputy chairman, expressed
concern over Habibie's poor record with regard to the
investigation into former president Soeharto's alleged abuse of
power. Marzuki has openly voiced his support for Indonesian
Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto.

Sources in Golkar's two-day leadership congress reported
heated arguments among factions in the party. In the end,
however, it also managed to name the following vice presidential
candidates: Golkar Chairman Akbar Tandjung, Minister of Defense
and Security/Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto,
Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and Coordinating
Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Ginandjar
Kartasasmita.

"The decisions were reached through a consensus among
participants, especially leaders from the provincial party
chapters," Akbar told The Jakarta Post before the closing
ceremony here on Friday.

He said the decision-making process had been dragged out by a
small number of provincial chapters which insisted on voting
rather than consensus.

"There were differences in opinion, which is natural in a
democracy. But we finally ironed out the differences through
lobbying all provincial chapter leaders," he said.

The meeting, which was opened officially by Akbar at 9 p.m. on
Thursday, had the sole objective of deciding upon the party's
presidential and vice presidential candidates. It took six hours
-- rather than the scheduled two hours -- to decide on the final
candidate because six provinces rejected the sole nomination of
Habibie.

North Sumatra, Riau, Lampung, East and West Java and
Yogyakarta proposed that five candidates be put forward instead.

Abu Hasan Sazili, deputy chairman of the Golkar faction in the
House of Representatives, said North Sumatra, Riau and Lampung
supported Akbar because he hails from Sumatra, while Yogyakarta
threw its weight behind Hamengkubuwono, their traditional
monarch.

West and East Java argued Akbar was more popular than Habibie
in the two provinces. The party leaders from the two provinces
have supported Akbar since a party meeting in March.

A reliable source in the party told the Post that Habibie had
planted a team in the meeting to campaign for his nomination.

"This team has been working for a long time," the source said,
requesting anonymity. He named the team members as, among others,
deputy chairmen Fachmi Idris and Agung Laksono, Setya Novanto,
Slamet Efendy Yusuf, businessman Fadel Muhammad, and A.A.
Baramuli, chairman of the Supreme Advisory Council (DPA).

When asked for confirmation, Slamet did not deny the presence
of such a team. Both he and Fadel separately rejected the
suggestion that high-level "money politics" were brought into
play in the meeting.

The two said the decisions were arrived at in a democratic and
transparent manner.

Sofyan Male, Golkar's deputy secretary-general, said the
nomination of Habibie, who hails from South Sulawesi, would help
the party win votes in eastern Indonesia.

"Golkar leaders from the eastern part of the country want the
president to be from outside Java," he said, adding that Habibie
met all the criteria for a president which the party had
delineated.

Akbar played down the opposition, vowing that Golkar would
continue to fight for Habibie's presidency.

"He has brought about progress, especially in the economy and
for the nation. He has also implemented all the decrees issued by
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)," he said.

He acknowledged that most of those who opposed Habibie's
nomination believed the President had deceived the public by
pursuing a weak and meaningless investigation into the wealth
allegedly accumulated by Soeharto during his 32 years in office.

"He is pursuing it (the investigation) and he will give an
account of it in the General Session of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR)," he said.

A disappointed Marzuki said: "I believe it would have been
better for the party to nominate Habibie after the election. His
nomination now will certainly have a negative impact on the
party's standing in the election."

"The (Golkar) leadership meeting failed to reach a better
decision," Marzuki said. "It should have endorsed the March
decision to name five candidates," he added. (rms)