Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie said Monday he would give way to more qualified party members to run for president in 2014.
“Although I have been mentioned as the most suitable candidate, I will not automatically nominated by the party to be its presidential candidate,” he said at a press conference.
Aburizal made the statement in response to increasing calls from regional functionaries attending the ongoing leadership meeting for him to run as Golkar’s presidential candidate in the 2014 elections.
Observers and a pollster say Aburizal’s chances were slim because of a string of high-profile incidents that have brought him negative publicity, including a tax evasion scandal and the still unresolved Sidoarjo mudflow disaster — all attributed to his business empire.
A recent study by the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) showed Golkar may win the 2014 legislative elections given that Golkar-backed candidates won 53 percent of the recent regional elections.
Whether the party wins the presidential race, the survey said, would depend on whether Golkar would be able to rebrand Aburizal’s tainted image.
The survey estimated Aburizal’s electability level at only 10 percent, way below that of potential rivals such as Megawati Sukarnoputri from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and Prabowo of the Greater Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra).
The 2008 Political Party Law stipulates that party chairpersons had the political privilege of being nominated as presidential candidates.
Nineteen of Golkar’s 33 provincial functionaries proposed at the meeting that Aburizal officially be nominated for president.
Senior Golkar figures speaking on condition of anonymity said that not only would Aburizal’s tarnished image ruin his chances of winning the presidency, but a hasty nomination would also be a political blunder for Golkar, which served as the vehicle for former Indonesian strongman Soeharto.
The anonymous Golkar members said other members of the ruling coalition would likely view an early nomination as a sign of hostility that may end in Golkar being forced out of the coalition.
Paramadina University political analyst, Burhanuddin Muhtadi, said Aburizal’s call to give way to other more potential candidates was a smart strategy to win public sympathy in the run-up too the 2014 general elections.
He said it was possible Golkar would eventually nominate Aburizal as its presidential candidate for 2014 when the time was right.
“In the meantime Aburizal will have to work hard to improve his image and convince the public he has the capability to become the country’s top leader,” he told The Jakarta Post.
