Golkar Party gives Akbar Tandjung second chance
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Golkar will give its chairman Akbar Tandjung a chance to contest the national convention, which will elect the party's presidential candidate to run in the 2004 election.
The executive chairman of the national convention organizing committee, Slamet Effendy Yusuf, said on Friday that Akbar can be nominated by either members of Golkar or mass organizations affiliated with the party for the national convention slated for November.
Akbar, who is also the House of Representatives (DPR) speaker, was sentenced to three years after he was convicted in a Rp 40 billion (US$4.81 million) graft case that took place when he was state secretary under President B.J. Habibie in 1999. Akbar remains free, pending his appeal to the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court expects to hear the appeal in August, when Golkar begins the nomination of presidential hopefuls by the party's provincial chapters.
"It depends on whether Akbar is nominated (by the organization) or not," Slamet said after a discussion here on Friday.
Separately, Akbar said on Friday that he was undecided whether he would run for president. He said that as party chairman he would focus on how to boost Golkar's votes in the 2004 election.
Slamet said Akbar would not enjoy any privileges in the convention, despite being the party chairman.
A group of at least 500 people or a mass organization are allowed to propose presidential candidates to Golkar's regental branch when the convention process starts up in August. Each branch is allowed to select five candidates, who will compete in the convention at a provincial level.
Each provincial chapter will come with five candidates to the national convention in Jakarta in November.
Slamet said the selection process in regental branches was part of Golkar's effort to search for "the best person in the nation" for the presidential race.
Citing an example, Slamet said that a recent meeting of branch offices in Surakarta, Central Java, selected 17 candidates, three of whom were not Golkar members.
For that same reason, Slamet said the presidential candidates would not be restricted to only Golkar figures.
Based on the Constitution, a presidential hopeful has to be nominated by a political party or a coalition of parties, which effectively closes the door on independent candidates.
Although some Golkar leaders have mentioned several possible presidential candidates, Slamet said that until Friday the convention committee had not officially received any names.
National figures touted as candidates during the convention include Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid, Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Minister of Transportation Agum Gumelar, Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla, media tycoon Surya Paloh, former Indonesian Military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto and former chief of Army Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) Prabowo Subianto.
"The status of these candidates is the same as the candidates that have not yet been mentioned," Slamet added.
Political analyst turned politician Andi Mallarangeng hailed Golkar's convention initiative, but said that the agenda should not pay lip service just to boost the party's image.