The Golkar Party has every reason to be optimistic about this year'€™s elections: It is the oldest and most experienced among all the competing parties, its organizational structure down to village level is well founded and its membership comprises a good combination of young and old; ex-military and technocrats; and businessmen and academics.

In many of the political events that have shaken President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono'€™s administration since 2009, Golkar has often made surprising maneuvers that proved its skill at making political calculations.

In the Bank Century bailout inquiry at the House of Representatives, for example, Golkar joined the opposition'€™s bandwagon to attack the government regardless of its status as part of the government coalition. Yet, its share of political office remained unaffected.

Golkar'€™s well oiled political machinery, supported by sound financial support, has also enabled the party to see more than 300 of its members become regional leaders all over the country.

Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie has of course been troubled by the mud disaster in Sidoarjo, East Java, in 2006. Thousands were displaced by the disaster that was allegedly caused by sloppy procedures conducted by a gas-drilling company partly controlled by the Bakrie family.

Corruption cases have also had a negative effect on Golkar'€™s image. More than 50 Golkar politicians had been charged with corruption between 2009 and 2013, including the shocking graft case surrounding the procurement of copies of the Quran that ended with two Golkar politicians in jail.

Still, recent surveys have shown that Golkar remains among the top two most popular parties. Aburizal has said he is optimistic Golkar can reach its target of 170 seats, or 30 percent of the total 560 seats, in the House. It currently has 107 seats, thanks to the 14.5 percent of the vote it got in the 2009 legislative election.

Golkar'€™s popularity has also boosted Aburizal'€™s optimism about winning the presidential race as well, even though polling numbers have seen him struggling to get into the top four.

'€œSome of the presidential hopefuls whose electability is currently higher than mine may not be able to run because their parties may fail to reach the required threshold,'€ Aburizal said during a recent interview with The Jakarta Post.

Illegal ad: Public Order Agency (Satpol PP) officers take down a banner for a Democratic Party legislative candidate that violated a nationwide regulation on campaign ads in Surabaya on Wednesday. The East Java Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) has recorded 92,119 violations committed by the 12 political parties participating in the upcoming general election. (JP/Indra Harsaputra)
Established on Oct. 20, 1964, as the Sekretariat Bersama Golongan Karya (the joint secretariat of functional groups) as a federation of 97 organizations, the party had its glory days during Soeharto'€™s New Order era.

Golkar'€™s heyday lasted 32 years under Soeharto, the party'€™s then chief patron. It won five elections from 1971 until Soeharto'€™s authoritarian government was overthrown in 1998.

Although its links to the New Order tainted Golkar in the 1999 election, it still managed to finish second, thanks to Golkar'€™s massive efforts to change its image under Akbar Tanjung'€™s leadership.

The first direct presidential election in 2004 also resulted in Golkar gaining a share of power when Yudhoyono and running mate Jusuf Kalla, then Golkar chairman, won the presidential race.

Five years later, Kalla ran as Golkar'€™s official presidential candidate. He lost but Golkar eventually managed to lobby Yudhoyono'€™s administration to let it be part of the government.

Golkar is now seeking to gain from the momentum of popular discontent with the failure of the reformation era to translate into prosperity.

'€œThe people have never actually regarded the New Order as bad. It is the elites who do. The New Order, excluding its autocracy and centralization, was good. And the people'€™s nostalgia for the era is now growing. It is also a longing for Golkar rule,'€ Aburizal said.

Golkar'€™s long history has seen it being in opposition only once. Aburizal has suggested that the 2009 maneuver could possibly be repeated in 2014 when he commented on his possible rivalry with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle'€™s (PDI-P) Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, the strongest potential presidential candidate so far.

'€œWe may compete in the presidential race but a coalition, possibly a long-term one with the PDI-P, could be formed afterward,'€ Aburizal said.

As is so often with political parties, however, Golkar'€™s size means it is also prone to internal conflicts.

The current leaders of a number of other parties are former Golkar members who left because of power struggles. Among them are the Hanura Party'€™s chairman and presidential candidate Wiranto, the Gerindra Party'€™s chief patron and presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto, the Nasdem Party'€™s founder and chairman Surya Paloh, and the PDI-P secretary-general Tjahjo Kumolo.

'€œWe'€™ve never seen their departures as threats to popular support for Golkar. We are always proud that Golkar '€˜alumni'€™ can be useful for this nation,'€ Aburizal said.