Golkar will soon hold congress
Golkar will soon hold congress
JAKARTA (JP): Facing threats of dissension and calls for
reform, the country's dominant political organization, Golkar,
decided yesterday to hold an extraordinary congress in July at
which chairman Harmoko is likely to be replaced.
The organization which has had a stranglehold on Indonesian
politics for more than two decades had originally scheduled its
five-yearly congress and chairmanship election for October.
The decision to hold an extraordinary congress was reached at
a meeting of Golkar leaders yesterday. Harmoko, who appeared to
be calm despite the pressure mounting on him to resign, announced
the meeting's result himself.
Of the 27 regional chapters attending the meeting, 23 strongly
demanded an immediate extraordinary congress. The other four --
Aceh, Bengkulu, Yogyakarta and Southeast Sulawesi -- abstained.
Eight chapters -- Jambi, Jakarta, East Java, East and West
Nusa Tenggara, and also South, Central and West Kalimantan --
asked Harmoko to resign at the upcoming extraordinary congress.
One of Golkar's traditional allies, Musyawarah Kekeluargaan
Gotong Royong (MKGR) broke ranks from Golkar last week and
established itself as an independent political party. Another
ally, Kosgoro, said it was considering a similar move.
Yesterday, Harmoko refused to say whether he would resign to
meet his critics' demands that this was the only way to save the
organization from crumbling as it was losing people's confidence.
"I am a Golkar cadre, I will not hold on to a position
forever," he said. "One thing is for sure, I am not willing to be
renominated in the next chairmanship election."
The July congress will decide on various matters such as
Golkar's next leadership and whether it was still necessary to
maintain the board of patrons and board of advisors, he said.
Golkar's chief patron is fallen president Soeharto, and among
its leaders is Soeharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardijanti
Rukmana.
The congress would also discuss Golkar's concept for future
laws on political parties.
Speaking about the ongoing reform campaign, Harmoko said
Golkar supported the government's plan for an immediate
extraordinary session of the People's Consultative Assembly and
general elections.
Civil servants
In a related development, all 51,000 members of the Indonesian
Civil Servants Corps (Korpri) at the Ministry of Forestry
withdrew their support for Golkar and called on the corp's
executive board to follow suit.
Sumahadi, chairman of the ministry's Korpri chapter, said the
chapter was throwing its weight behind the reform campaign and
would from now on take a neutral stance in party politics.
Korpri members, who number about six million nationwide,
traditionally vote or are made to vote for Golkar in general
elections.
"The Korpri chapter at the forestry ministry supports total
reform of the political, economic and legal fields and will go to
the front line to eliminate corrupt, colluding and nepotistic
practices at the ministry, state-owned forestry company PT
Inhutani and state-owned plantation companies," said Sumahadi,
who was the forestry minister for two months under Soeharto's
last administration.
Government regulation No. 20/1976 allows civil servants to
join any of the three political organizations and says they are
free to vote according to their personal choice in general
elections. (imn/gis/rms)