JP/4/GOLKAR

JP/4/GOLKAR

Akbar clears Golkar screening for presidency

A'an Suryana
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

The Golkar Party announced on Thursday the 19 people who will
contest the convention held to select the party's presidential
candidates, including its chairman Akbar Tandjung.

Akbar, who was sentenced to three years in jail for corruption
involving the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), qualified for the
convention, thanks to the lax rules of the game.

The party chairman remains free pending a Supreme Court
verdict on his appeal. The court may delay the announcement of
the verdict as it will replace one of the five justices hearing
the case, Laica Marzuki, following his appointment to the
Constitutional Court.

"The committee's screening has found that all 19 of the
candidates met the requirements to contest the convention,"
Oetojo Oesman, who chairs the convention committee, said on
Thursday,

The requirements have included written confirmation from the
state court stating that candidates are not convicts serving at
least five years in jail, and from the commercial court stating
they are not bankrupt.

Golkar has made another change to the rules regarding the
minimum education of candidates. Under the amended regulation
senior high school graduates can contest the convention, in the
same way as it is stipulated in the presidential election law.

Other candidates include Coordinating Minister for People's
Welfare Jusuf Kalla, Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X,
former Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto, former
chief of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) Lt. Gen.
(ret) Prabowo Subianto, former justice minister Muladi,
businessman Aburizal Bakrie, media mogul Surya Paloh and Golkar
legislators Marwah Daud Ibrahim and Theo Sambuaga.

Oetojo said the candidates would tour a number of cities
across the country to promote their vision and mission, from next
week through Sept. 30.

According to the preliminary itinerary, rallies will be held
in South Sumatra on Aug. 24, North Sumatra (Aug. 25), Aceh (Aug.
26), West Sumatra (Aug. 27) and Riau (Aug. 28).

Rully Chairul Azwar, deputy secretary of the convention
committee, said the candidates were prohibited from resorting to
money politics and defaming other candidates. The committee, he
said, would disqualify candidates who ignored three straight
warnings.

Golkar will shortlist five candidates in October and select
one of them in the national convention scheduled for February
next year.