Hayono front-runner for Kosgoro chairmanship
Hayono front-runner for Kosgoro chairmanship
JAKARTA (JP): The ongoing congress of Kosgoro, an influential organization under Golkar, the ruling political grouping, entered its fourth-day yesterday with support on the rise for Hayono Isman's chairmanship.
Hayono, who is State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, spent the day receiving declarations of support from most of Kosgoro's 27 branch representatives and nine affiliated organizations in a plenary session yesterday.
Hayono is the son of Kosgoro co-founder Maj. Gen. Mas Isman.
However, four other names mentioned earlier as potential leaders are still in the running.
They are the outgoing chairman Soeprapto; Sarwono Kusumaatmadja, State Minister of Environment; Siswono Yudohusodo, Minister of Transmigration; and Agung Laksono, a deputy chairman of Golkar.
Sarwono and Siswono had from the beginning expressed their unwillingness to be nominated for the post. Both have suggested that the Kosgoro chair should not be a cabinet minister.
Yesterday's session also saw the crystallization of support for contenders from two camps; those for Soeprapto and those for Hayono.
A number of participants interviewed by The Jakarta Post predicted that Hayono would gain the support of more than 20 branches and affiliated organizations.
The plenary session was also marked by protesting participants, who complained to the organizing committee about the seven-hour delay of the session, which was scheduled to start at 8 a.m.
Sources said the delay was secretly used by the two camps to lobby their potential voters.
A source from Kosgoro's youth wing, Generasi Muda Kosgoro, who asked to remain anonymous, said that representatives from 18 branches and seven affiliated organizations held a meeting at about 1 p.m. with Hayono in the minister's house.
"They asked Hayono to formally run for chairman," he said. "Hayono has said he is willing but wanted the congress to nominate him."
Another source said that a number of senior members held a meeting with Soeprapto in a room at Hotel Indonesia, the site of the congress.
Some branch representatives used the congress yesterday to express their support for incumbent President Soeharto and Vice President Try Sutrisno in the 1998 presidential and vice- presidential election.
The outgoing chairman, Soeprapto, said earlier that the organization would suggest that its parent organization Golkar nominate Soeharto for the 1998 election.
Kosgoro is a cooperative organization established on Nov. 10, 1957, by the East Java group of the Student Army, which fought during Indonesia's independence war.
The student soldiers established the organization as a venue for cooperation among social groups, regardless of political affiliation or religious beliefs, in an effort to help build a new Indonesia.
Kosgoro claims to have members in Indonesia's 27 provinces and 288 mayoralties and regencies.(imn)