Golkar Party leaders split as internal rift deepens
Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
An internal rift within the Golkar Party has led several party leaders to split ranks from the party's pro-President Megawati Soekarnoputri Nationhood Coalition to instead back presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
On Tuesday, several of the party's defiant executives, including Marzuki Darusman, Fahmi Idris and Burhanuddin Napitupulu, declared the establishment of the Golkar Reform Forum, sending a clear message they would support Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate Jusuf Kalla, who is a Golkar member.
The Nationhood Coalition is a grouping aimed to help Megawati Soekarnoputri and running mate Hasyim Muzadi win the Sept. 20 election runoff. Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung leads the coalition, which brings together four major parties that would hold a clear majority in the next House of Representatives,
"Now that we (Golkar members) have established the forum, I hope all the party members feel free to discuss anything that happens inside the party, including policies that are considered to depart from the party's aspirations," Fahmi said, referring to Akbar's decision to involve Golkar in the coalition.
Akbar has said the policy bound all Golkar members down to the grassroots to support Megawati. Golkar secretary-general Budi Harsono said the party had reprimanded eight executives who opposed the party's policy of supporting the Megawati-Hasyim ticket.
Tuesday's declaration came 24 hours after the Golkar dissidents, along with lawmakers from Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the National Awakening Party (PAN) and the United Development Party, met with Kalla to call for reform and a clean election runoff.
Golkar, which garnered the most votes in the April 5 legislative election, nominated former Indonesian Military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto in the first-round of the presidential election on July 5, but he was eliminated after coming in third behind Susilo and Megawati.
Meanwhile, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) that recently tendered its support to the Susilo-Kalla pairing, has also faced opposition from its members. On Tuesday, hundreds of PKS supporters rallied in front of the party's headquarters in South Jakarta, urging the party executives to pull back their support for Susilo, who they said opportunistically manipulated religious issues.
Separately, the National Awakening Party (PKB) began its two- day national meeting on Tuesday to decide its political stance ahead of the election runoff.
The meeting was attended by 40 members of the party's central board, including its chief patron Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, and 32 representatives of its provincial boards.
PKB leader Alwi Shihab said most of the party's representatives had tendered support for the Susilo-Kalla pairing, but "some of them have also asked the party to stay neutral."