Golkar won't propose on next cabinet lineup
JAKARTA (JP): The dominant political organization, Golkar, fresh from its major haul in the recent general election, will not propose its cadres for ministerial posts in the next cabinet to the elected president, party chairman Harmoko said yesterday.
Harmoko said Golkar would instead comply with the Constitution that leaves the choice of ministers to the president.
"Whoever the next president is, we will trust him or her in the selection of cabinet ministers. Why should we groom our own ministerial candidates?" Harmoko said.
"We won't even try to persuade the president on the composition of the next cabinet. We have to respect the president's right to choose his or her assistants," he said.
The president for the 1998/2003 period will be elected during a general session of the 1,000-strong People's Consultative Assembly next March. The assembly is made up of 500 House of Representatives members and another 500 representatives of various groups, provinces and professions.
Harmoko led Golkar to a record 74 percent of votes in the May 29 election, Golkar's sixth consecutive win in election history under the New Order.
Many Golkar cadres have been given ministerial jobs, including Harmoko who has been serving as a cabinet minister since 1983.
He held the minister of information post until May when President Soeharto promoted him to state minister of special assignments.
Traditionally, all cabinet ministers are members of the Golkar board of patrons. Soeharto chairs the influential board and it looks certain that his tenure will be extended.
But Harmoko said yesterday Golkar would not take advantage of the influential link to bid for ministerial posts.
He said Golkar would also give the choice of vice president to the elected president.
Also yesterday, Minister of Home Affairs Moch. Yogie S.M. decided to step in to help a rift at the Irian Jaya Legislative Council, which escalated Wednesday with Golkar threatening to dismiss legislators who failed to vote for their own faction's candidate in the council speaker election last month.
Recall
"Golkar's central board of executives should not deal out such punitive measures to their councilors," Yogie said.
Chief of Golkar's Irian Jaya chapter, Bima, said Wednesday he would consult with the party's central board about the possibility of dismissing the "deserting" councilors.
Golkar's candidate, Bima, lost to his Armed Forces counterpart, Col. Robert Sitorus, despite the faction's majority of seats in the council.
A Golkar executive, Amir Santoso, said the party's central board, as well as those of other political parties, should punish members who are found guilty of violating organizational rules.
"The central board will study the Irian Jaya branch's suggestion first. We may reject the idea to dismiss the legislators, however," said Amir, who heads Golkar's research and development affairs.
He played down the threat, saying that Bima was only reprimanding legislators who voted against their faction's candidate.
"It serves as a lesson to party cadres that they have to comply with organizational discipline and all consensus reached within the party," legislator Amir said.
He said the punishment would not play havoc to the democratization process of the country, saying that democracy and allegiance were two different things.
"Democracy occurs during decision-making, in which everybody is allowed to trade arguments. But once a decision is made, all party members have no reason to refute it," Amir said. (imn/amd)