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Aburizal advised to drop presidential bid
The old guard: Golkar Party deputy chairman and Mutual Assistance Consultative Organization (MKGR) chairman Priyo Budi Santoso (left) assists Central Organization for Indonesian Employees (SOKSI) founder Suhardiman (center) during their meeting in Cilandak, South Jakarta, on Friday
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The old guard: Golkar Party deputy chairman and Mutual Assistance Consultative Organization (MKGR) chairman Priyo Budi Santoso (left) assists Central Organization for Indonesian Employees (SOKSI) founder Suhardiman (center) during their meeting in Cilandak, South Jakarta, on Friday. (Antara/Reno Esnir) (MKGR) chairman Priyo Budi Santoso (left) assists Central Organization for Indonesian Employees (SOKSI) founder Suhardiman (center) during their meeting in Cilandak, South Jakarta, on Friday. (Antara/Reno Esnir)
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span class="inline inline-none">The old guard: Golkar Party deputy chairman and Mutual Assistance Consultative Organization (MKGR) chairman Priyo Budi Santoso (left) assists Central Organization for Indonesian Employees (SOKSI) founder Suhardiman (center) during their meeting in Cilandak, South Jakarta, on Friday. (Antara/Reno Esnir)
A cofounder of the Golkar Party and members of sub-organizations have advised party chairman Aburizal Bakrie to abandon his presidential ambitions amid rumors that he might settle for the vice presidential ticket, allowing Prabowo Subianto to snatch the top job.
The murmurs gained momentum after Aburizal held a meeting with the Gerindra Party's presidential nominee at the former's house, which resulted in a commitment of political cooperation between Golkar and Gerindra ahead the July 9 presidential election.
Although the deal between the two has not been released, some have predicted that Aburizal has softened his stance and would be willing to become second in command to Prabowo, who according to many political surveys is far more popular.
Zainal Bintang, senior member of the Mutual Assistance Consultative Organization (MKGR), one of Golkar's three core organizations, said the three would push for an early exit of Aburizal as chair at the upcoming national executive meeting.
The meeting will also be used by the party to appoint the party's representative to be paired with either Prabowo or Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
According to Zainal, other Golkar elites ' such as Priyo Budi Santoso, Akbar Tanjung and Luhut Binsar Panjaitan ' are more fitting than Aburizal as vice presidential candidates .
The two other Golkar-affiliated bodies, the Central Organization for Indonesian Employees (SOKSI) and Kosgoro 1957, also cast doubts over Aburizal's election odds.
'History repeats itself ' we have a presidential candidate who is Javanese and majority of the public are from Java. So it is better for Aburizal to not be a presidential or vice presidential candidate,' former Soksi chairman Suhardiman, who cofounded the party, said as quoted by Antara news agency.
SOKSI, however, was divided as its chairman Ade Komarudin said in a press conference on Friday that it would continue to support Aburizal's candidacy.
One of Golkar's wing organizations, the Indonesian Young Generation for Renewal (AMPI), shared the same view, saying that if the Golkar-Gerindra cooperation materialized, Aburizal should get the presidential ticket, given Golkar's better achievement in the last legislative election.
Golkar garnered around 15 percent of the popular vote while Gerindra only got 11 percent, according to quick counts.
'AMPI abides by Golkar's official decision to nominate Aburizal, even though [the party] failed to reach the target of 30 percent of the popular vote,' AMPI chairman Dave Laksono said.
Dave added, however, that AMPI's support for Aburizal would not prevent the organization from criticizing his leadership in the upcoming national meeting, slated for mid-May, particularly regarding the chairman's failure to attain Golkar's legislative election target.
'We have talked with members in the regions and heard similar concerns. Something went wrong,' he said.
AMPI, along with the three core organizations, as well as other wing organizations and some Golkar senior politicians, were said to have planned an early exit for Aburizal on the basis of the election failure.
Among those touted as potential successors is Coordinating People's Welfare Minister Agung Laksono, Dave's father.
Responding to the move, Aburizal convened a meeting on Monday evening with executives from the party's provincial branches.
Aburizal said after the meeting, as quoted by several media outlets, the local executives had stated that a chairman should keep 'trying to be a presidential candidate'.
However, according to Zainal, local leaders even asked Aburizal to reject the vice presidental ticket.
Golkar deputy chairman Fadel Muhammad denied Zainal's claims, saying that their statements were 'not wise as those would only hamper the party'.
'There was no such thing; I attended the meeting,' he said. 'The whole candidate issue should be brought up at the upcoming national meeting. Let's wait for it; everything will be decided there.'
