Wiranto, Golkar's first presidential nominee
Wiranto, Golkar's first presidential nominee
Kurniawan Hari and Nana Rukmana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Cirebon
Former commander of the Indonesian Military (TNI) Gen. (ret)
Wiranto emerged as the first figure proposed by a Golkar Party-
affiliated organization on Tuesday as a presidential candidates.
Chairman of the party's committee for selection of
presidential candidates confirmed here that Wiranto was
officially proposed by Garda Muda Merah Putih on Tuesday morning
but said his team would determine whether or not the organization
chaired by Adhyaksa Dault was recognized by the party.
Wiranto along with four other figures was nominated in the
party's recent meeting to make an inventory of possible
presidential candidates in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
The other four were Muslim intellectual Nurcholish Madjid,
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono, Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare
Jusuf Kalla and Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.
Several other names, including party chairman Akbar Tandjung,
Transportation Minister Agum Gumelar and former general commander
of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) Lt. Gen. (ret.) Prabowo
Subianto, also emerged in the Makassar meeting.
With the meeting, Golkar the political vehicle of former
president Soeharto, has stolen the start of the presidential
campaign in an attempt to divert people's attention from its sins
of the past and to win their support in the first ever direct
presidential election.
All figures proposed by party chapters and mass organizations
will be asked to present their vision and mission in provinces
and regencies in the next seven months until the party holds a
convention in February to select only one name as the party's
presidential candidate.
The next months will be a test for the party to see whether
the party, the second major faction in the House of
Representatives, has gained real support from the people to
contend the legislative and presidential elections.
Deputy secretary of the convention Rully Chairul Azwar said
Golkar Deputy Chairman Marwah Daud Ibrahim had been also proposed
by 100 of her supporters in Kutai, East Kalimantan, but she still
needed 400 more supporters to have the committee process her
nomination.
Oetojo explained there were three ways to gain nomination:
self nomination with at least 500 signatures from his/her
supporters, nomination by the party-affiliated mass organizations
or by party's provincial chapters.
The registration of proposed candidates that has been open
since July 11 will close on Aug. 7, while the committee will
start selecting the candidates from Aug. 1 through Aug. 19.
Meanwhile, Akbar visited Buntet Islamic Boarding School in
Cirebon, West Java, on Tuesday in his efforts to seek support for
his candidacy for the presidential race.
"My visit here is to ask for support so that I can do my job
well and can be accepted by all," he said.
Eye box:
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1. July 11-July 30: Registration of proposed presidential
nominees
2. August 7, 2003 : registration closure
3. August 1- 19 : Verification of nominees
4. Aug. 21-Oct.10 : Nominees' Internal campaign in at least seven
Golkar's chapters
5. Sept.1-Oct.8 : Selection at Golkar's regency chapters
6. Sept.7-Oct.15 : Selection at Golkar's provincial chapters
7. Oct.16-18 : Announcement of qualified candidates
8. Oct.20-23 : Pre-convention to select five candidates
9. Feb.11-13, 2004: Convention to determine the sole candidate
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Note: Composition of votes in the next convention:
- Golkar's executive board has 18 votes
- 30 provincial chapters have 3 votes each
- 416 regency chapters have one vote each
- Golkar's 10 affiliated organizations have one vote each