Golkar to name Gus Dur-handpicked VP aspirant

Kurniawan Hari and Indra Harsaputra Jakarta/Surabaya

The Golkar Party agreed on Monday to devote its energies to forging a coalition with the National Awakening Party (PKB) to win the presidential election.

The party will also select whoever is approved by PKB cofounder Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid as the running mate for Wiranto, who won the Golkar convention last week.

Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung said he and Wiranto would visit Gus Dur in the coming two or three days to ask for his preferred candidate for Wiranto's running mate.

"We need a coalition with a party with strong support both in the grassroots and the House of Representatives to ensure victory and a stable government," Akar said after a meeting between top Golkar executives and Wiranto, the first of its kind since the convention. The meeting ended 11:30 p.m.

Both Akbar and Wiranto acknowledged Gus Dur as a national figure and PKB leader to reckon with.

"We need a vice presidential candidate whom he endorses," said former Indonesian Military chief Wiranto, who has met Gus Dur several times recently.

In Surabaya, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) began on Monday a halaqoh (national ulema gathering), which has invited five presidential candidates who are expected to be pitted against each other in the July 5 election.

President Megawati Soekarnoputri was the first to turn up as she opened the event at Somerset Hotel on Monday evening.

Megawati, who is the presidential candidate from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), met with NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi and 24 influential NU clerics, including Abdullah Faqih and Masduki Mahfud, shortly after the ceremony.

No official statement, however, was given following the meeting.

Other presidential candidates, Amien Rais, Wiranto and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, will arrive on Tuesday to speak in the ensuing seminar on public participation in the first direct presidential election.

Megawati, Amien of the National Mandate Party (PAN), Wiranto of the Golkar Party and Susilo of the Democratic Party are expected to contest the first-ever presidential election. Susilo is the only aspirant to have disclosed a running mate.

Hasyim has reportedly been courted by the PDI-P and Golkar, but said on Monday no party had officially asked him to contest the election as a running mate of its presidential candidate.

"Let's just wait and see because even I do not know when (to make a decision). The NU is not in a position to determine its preferred presidential and vice presidential candidates," Hasyim said.

In her opening speech, Megawati asked the elected president to terminate their loyalty to whatever political party they came from but emerge as a leader to serve the nation.

"The elected president and vice president should no longer fall under the influence of other state institutions or parties that supported their election," the President told the audience.

Like previous presidents, Megawati did not resign as PDI-P chairwoman, at the party's request. Only the founding president, her father Sukarno, switched loyalty from his party to the nation.