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Golkar provincial chapters reject splinter faction
In a development that showed escalated tension and more polarized division within the Golkar Party, dozens of party provincial executives expressed their support for chairman Aburizal Bakrie and rejected moves by the rival camp to elect a new chairman in January, next year
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n a development that showed escalated tension and more polarized division within the Golkar Party, dozens of party provincial executives expressed their support for chairman Aburizal Bakrie and rejected moves by the rival camp to elect a new chairman in January, next year.
In a declaration read out by the chairman of Golkar Southeast Sulawesi provincial chapter, Ridwan Bae, the provincial executives said that the so-called 'Presidium of Golkar Party's Saviors' led by deputy chairman Agung Laksono was unconstitutional.
'Golkar's statute does not recognize such a presidium,' he said before dozens of Golkar members claiming to represent 31 out of all 34 provincial chapters, during a meeting at a hotel in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Chapter heads from South Sulawesi, South Kalimantan and Maluku were said to be absent from the meeting.
Ridwan also supported Aburizal's decision to expedite the party congress to Nov. 30 in Bali. Agung's camp has accused Aburizal of maneuvering to expedite the congress to prevent other chairman candidates' from wooing party regional and local chapters.
He also called on Aburizal to punish Agung and all the members of his camp for 'disciplinary violations'.
Also on Wednesday, Agung's camp 'occupied' the party's headquarters in West Jakarta after claiming that Aburizal's leadership was no longer legitimate.
The camp also filed a request with the Law and Human Rights Ministry to register the 'new' party national executives, which excluded Aburizal and all of his men, said one of Aburizal's opposition, lawmaker Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita.
The presidium was formed following a violent clash between dozens of Golkar youth members and a band of men, believed to have been hired by Aburizal's camp, outside the headquarters on Tuesday afternoon, disrupting an ongoing plenary meeting led by deputy chairman and Aburizal's confidant Theo L. Sambuaga.
Agung then took over the lead of the meeting and announced the formation of the presidium as well as the plan to hold the party congress in January 2015 in Jakarta, despite Aburizal's camp's insistence on holding it on Nov. 30 in Bali.
Aburizal has been pushing for the congress to be expedited amid his oppositions' ambitious moves to win over the party's regional and local chapters, which could jeopardize his bid to win a second term as party chairman.(++++)
