Golkar opens leadership meeting amid internal rift

Golkar opens leadership meeting amid internal rift

A'an Suryana and Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Golkar Party put its internal dispute behind it as it began
its leadership meeting on Wednesday with a call for national
reconciliation.

Party chairman Akbar Tandjung suggested in his opening speech
that good will from all elements of the nation in reaching
reconciliation would result in the political stability the
country needed to restore its economy and emerge from the ongoing
crisis.

"President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Vice President Hamzah
Haz have planted the seeds of political certainty, which is a
main factor in the success of the economy. We should not squander
this advantage by blaming each other and sparking narrow-minded
political disputes," Akbar told the participants at the meeting
at the party's headquarters in Slipi, West Jakarta.

Internal disputes had cast a shadow over the meeting, which
runs through Friday, with the party executive board considering
imposing a suspension on Muchyar Yara, deputy secretary-general
of the party.

Muchyar is one of the party members who have called for a snap
congress to unseat Akbar from the party's top post on the grounds
that Akbar's status as a suspect in a high profile scam involving
the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) could jeopardize the
party's existence.

But Akbar looks set to remain in command, as many provincial
chapters have turned down the possibility of holding an
accelerated congress.

Akbar's other rivals, Achmad Arnold Baramuli and Muladi, both
of whom are members of the party's advisory board, were absent
from the opening ceremony.

The meeting was attended by the party's executives, patrons
and some 300 provincial representatives.

Akbar warned of further economic trouble ahead now that growth
was running at only between 2 percent and 3 percent, foreign
investment was diminishing and people had to queue to obtain
basic commodities.

He asked all parties to focus on economic recovery, instead of
wasting their energies on pursuing their own interests.

"All elements of society must put aside their narrow interests
and establish a political moratorium to support economic
recovery," he said.

A Golkar executive, Slamet Effendy Yusuf, confirmed that a
proposal to demand a snap congress had been left out of the
meeting's agenda.

Chairman of the Yogyakarta party chapter, M. Mansur Sudarno,
echoed Slamet's remarks, saying that a precipitated congress was
not a solution to the problems the party was facing.