Rizal Harahap and Hyginus Hardoyo, The Jakarta Post, Pekanbaru, Riau | Tue, 10/06/2009 1:31 PM
The Golkar Party, the once-dominant party of the New Order era, hopes to regain its clout with a new spirit to win the 2014 general elections.
The plan was disclosed by Golkar leaders at the opening of the party's eighth congress in Pekanbaru, Riau, on Monday evening.
"We have to be great in the current ways, not the old ways," Golkar general chairman Jusuf Kalla said in his opening address.
From the early 1970s, Golkar had dominated the general elections by gaining more than 60 percent of votes. However, its popularity dropped to under 25 percent in 2004 and declined to 14.45 percent in 2009.
"Golkar used to hold power, but it was all achieved with dignity and not by begging" said Kalla, who is also the outgoing Vice President.
The four-day congress, attended by more than 1,360 participants and at least 600 observers, has been held to select a new leader for the party. Among the participants, only 538 have voting rights, including 494 heads of the party's regental branches.
Kalla reminded those in attendance that it would require "consolidation" of the party's 494 regental branches to win the next elections.
Despite the Golkar's losses this year, Kalla expressed confidence that it would remain a major party. as long as there was consolidation "to get rid of all internal problems".
As well as coming second to the Democratic Party in the recent polls, Golkar suffered several losses in provincial elections.
Andi Mattalata, the justice minister and chairman of the Golkar congress organizing committee, said the party still had potential to regain influence provided it could resolve its internal conflicts, including the fierce competition for leadership.
Ahead of the congress, competition among the Golkar leadership candidates was getting fiercer.
Apart from the continuing claims of support made by all four candidates, the competition has been heavily marked by alleged vote buying and also negative campaigns such as the vandalized banner of one of the contenders, Surya Paloh.
Two front-runners for the post - Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie and media magnate Surya - claimed they were assured of 376 votes and 422 votes, respectively, from regional branches, as of Sunday evening.
The 376 votes claimed by Aburizal were from both the provincial and regency branches as well as 10 mass organizations affiliated with Golkar, while of the 422 votes claimed by Surya, 17 were from provincial branches and 405 from the regency levels.
Aburizal, the head of one of the country's wealthiest families, pledged Rp 1 trillion to develop the party if he was elected as chairman. Former president Soeharto's son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra will provide Rp 50 billion to each of the regency branches that agree to support him, the head of his campaign team, Saurip Kadi, told a press conference on Monday.
Surya's campaign team claims to have sent at least 800 supporters by chartered planes from Denpasar.
Another candidate, Yuddy Chrisnadi, claims he has no such funding and only has his "good intentions" to win over the party's rank and file.
