Golkar OK if Hamengkubuwono wants to resign

House deputy speaker from the Golkar Party Priyo Budi Santoso said Golkar would enable Sultan Hamengkubuwono X to make up his mind on whether he wants to stay in the party.

This came after critics who said that Yogyakarta people should elect another governor for the special region because of the sultan’s partisanship.

“Golkar isn’t in the position to determine the sultan's position right now. We will appreciate anything that comes from him, whether he decides to stay in or out of the party,” he said Thursday.

He said even if the sultan decided to out from the party it would prevent the party from struggling for the Yogyakarta special status.

“Golkar asks everybody to honor the agreement that has been made by our founding fathers. Thus the discussion over whether Yogya’s governor should be elected or appointed should end here,” he said.

Even though he is still registered as a Golkar Party member, Sultan Hamengkubuwono is now widely seen as the representative of the National Democrat, a new mass organization that was founded by media mogul Surya Paloh following his failure to become Golkar Party chairman. Conglomerate Aburizal Bakrie beat Surya Paloh in this contest.

The Golkar Party under Aburizal then half warned their members who are still joining the National Democrat to abandon the mass organization and come back to the Golkar Party. The second largest party had even threatened that it would expel the members who insisted on keeping National Democrat memberships.

The relationship between Aburizal and Surya Paloh turned sour after that.