Golkar picks Army general as secretary

Golkar picks Army general as secretary

JAKARTA: Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung installed Lt. Gen.
(ret.) Budi Harsono as the party's new secretary general on
Monday, replacing the late Maj. Gen. (ret.) Tuswandi who passed
away on June 12.

Akbar said Golkar's historical relations with the military and
common vision between his party and the military were the reasons
behind appointing Budi Harsono as its new secretary general.

"That is why I invited the him from the military circle to
fill the post of secretary general," Akbar was quoted by Antara
as saying.

Budi Harsono is a former chairman of the military/police
faction of the House of Representatives (DPR).

Akbar added that Harsono was one of only two names from the
military nominated for Golkar's secretary general post, following
his election to the party's chairmanship in 1998.

The other was Tuswandi, who was occupying a post in the
National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas), while Harsono was an
assistant for social and political affairs to the Armed Forces'
(ABRI) chief of staff for social and political affairs.

Tuswandi won the race and was elected Golkar secretary
general.

"After Tuswandi died, I thought of Harsono, who was also
nominated to the post by the party's extraordinary congress in
1998," Akbar said. -- Antara