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)