Sultan hints at graceful exit from Golkar convention series

Sultan hints at graceful exit from Golkar convention series

Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X hinted on Thursday
that he may withdraw from the Golkar Party's convention to select
a presidential candidate.

Sultan said he had formed a special team to gauge the real
support from Golkar constituents for his presidential bid. The
team is expected to complete its job after his visit to Aceh at
the end of next month.

"I will quit if the team proves Golkar does not support me. It
would be no use and unwise to insist on attending the convention
despite the absence of backing," Sultan said after receiving
Canadian Ambassador to Indonesia Raindolph B. Mank at his office.

Sultan finished seventh in the second stage to win the
remaining tickets to the convention, scheduled to take place
after the general election in April. He had earlier pledged to
withdraw from the convention if Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung
qualified, citing ethical reasons. Akbar, who is challenging his
conviction in a graft case, qualified.

All Golkar's chapters in the regencies/mayoralties and
provinces, central board of executives and affiliated
organizations have the right to vote in the convention.

Another candidate Nurcholish "Cak Nur" Madjid was the first to
make a premature exit, after he found out he had to buy votes to
win the convention.

Sultan said his fact finding team would travel around to
verify grassroots support for him. "They will identify whether
Golkar members in the grass roots will stand behind me," he
added.

Another of Golkar's presidential candidates, Prabowo Subianto,
said he would go ahead with his bid to win the convention.

"The show must go on. If I lose, I will return to business and
will never come back to politics," Prabowo said on the sidelines
of a seminar titled "Viewing Indonesia after 2004: Make or break"
in Yogyakarta.

Prabowo, a former chief of the Army Strategic Reserve Command
(Kostrad), turned to business after his military career ended
following the fall of long-time ruler Soeharto, his former
father-in-law.

Speaking in the seminar, Prabowo called on the Indonesian
people to vote for credible and clean figures for the sake of
reform.

Boycotting the elections reflects despair and defiance of the
reform movement, he said.

"People, particularly those educated ones, should participate
in the elections if they want to make a change to the country,"
he said.

"The road to democracy will be energy sapping, time consuming,
tricky and perhaps horrible, but it is the process the nation
should go through."