Golkar to punish dissenting councillors
Haidir Anwar Tanjung, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau
The Golkar Party faction of the Riau provincial council divulged on Friday that some of its councillors had defied the orders of the party's bosses to vote for losing gubernatorial candidate Saleh Djasit.
In fact, in the recent Riau gubernatorial election, the councillors voted for Saleh's rivals which resulted in his embarrassing defeat, a top Golkar councillor said.
The revelation came just one day after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle faction (PDI Perjuangan) acknowledged on Thursday that it had suffered a similar blow.
Djohar Firdaus, the chairman of the Golkar party faction at the provincial level, said that the faction would find out who had defied the orders and severely punish them.
"They can be fired immediately from being Golkar councillors, or they will be barred from being nominated as Golkar legislative candidates in the upcoming 2004 general election," Djohar told The Jakarta Post.
As previously reported, Saleh Djasit and Chaidir -- who were running on the Golkar ticket in the election on Wednesday to win Riau's governorship and deputy governorship -- failed to make it their day.
They only received 19 votes, despite the total 29 votes they could have garnered from both Golkar and PDI Perjuangan factions. Golkar faction holds the majority on the Riau legislative council with 15 seats, while PDI Perjuangan comes in second with 14 seats.
Meanwhile, Saleh and Suryadi Khusaini, who were running on the PDI Perjuangan ticket, only got two votes.
PDI Perjuangan said that only two, out of the 14 councillors, had voted for Saleh and Suryadi, a result which prompted party national leader Roy B.B. Janis to threaten to dismiss the remaining 12 PDI Perjuangan councillors.
The deserting councillors from Golkar and PDI Perjuangan apparently shifted their votes to the winning pair in the election, Rusli Zainal and Wan Abubakar, who were nominated by the United Development Party (PPP). The pair received 34 out of the total 52 votes.
Djohar confirmed that several Golkar councillors had indeed shifted their votes to the winning pair.
"We have consulted with the leaders of other factions, including PDI Perjuangan, and we have again simulated the election outcomes. From these, we are able to easily conclude that some of our councillors have become traitors," he said.
Djohar said that he would immediately hold an internal evaluation over the defeat.
Djohar added that the defeat had disappointed Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung. Akbar, through his lieutenant Rambe Kamarulzaman, told members of the Golkar faction in Riau that the councillors had betrayed him.
The councillors met with Akbar in Jakarta recently. In the meeting they had said that they were ready to vote for Saleh and Chaidir.
"But, they voted for the rival camp, Rusli and Wan Abubakar," Djohar quoted Rambe as saying.