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Dispute strips glory from Golkar HQ
With the Golkar Party leadership dispute intensifying in recent weeks, Polo, a receptionist at the partyâs headquarters in West Jakarta, now has an additional task when receiving incoming correspondence
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ith the Golkar Party leadership dispute intensifying in recent weeks, Polo, a receptionist at the party's headquarters in West Jakarta, now has an additional task when receiving incoming correspondence.
'Each day we receive a number of official letters personally addressed to the Golkar chairman,' Polo told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
'Since we currently have two chairmen, I must first clarify with the mailman which chairman the letters are intended for. If it doesn't mention a specific name, we usually just keep it.'
Located 500 meters from Jl. S. Parman, one of the country's busiest thoroughfares, Golkar's headquarters complex stands on a 2-hectare plot of land, encircled by residential buildings in Kemanggisan subdistrict.
The HQ's main activities are concentrated in a four-story building located just inside the compound's main entrance.
The complex also has a spacious parking lot, a mosque that can accommodate hundreds of worshippers, several meeting halls, a tennis court with a view of nearby high-rise buildings and smaller buildings that serve as the HQs of some of the party's affiliated organizations. It is the largest political party HQ in the country.
Having such a large complex is understandable, given that the party was established by former president Soeharto, who ruled the country for 32 years before his fall in May 1998. During his tenure, there was a special office for the Golkar's supervisory board, located on Jl. Teuku Umar in Menteng, Central Jakarta.
But since last month, the HQ has been at the center of a dispute between senior Golkar politicians Aburizal Bakrie and Agung Laksono, after both claimed to be the legitimate chairman of the country's second-largest political party.
Agung, who was recently elected as Golkar chairman in a national congress in Jakarta, served as Aburizal's deputy chairman in the previous leadership term. Both officially parted ways last month after Agung and his supporters refused to acknowledge the party's national congress in Bali, which granted Aburizal's reelection.
In a show of force earlier this month, Agung's supporters occupied the party's headquarters, preventing Aburizal's supporters from entering the compound.
On Thursday afternoon, dozens of people claiming to be members of the Golkar Party Youth Generation (AMPG) gathered at every corner of the compound.
'There's been rumors that those from the other [Golkar] faction will forcibly take over the headquarters any time. We need to prevent another brawl from happening,' Golkar deputy secretary-general and Agung supporter Syamsul Hidayat said, referring to a brawl between the two rival groups last month at the HQ, which injured several people.
On Tuesday, Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly announced that the ministry's assessment had concluded that the party's two recent national congresses held separately by each faction were both legal. Yasonna, however, said that the government preferred to acknowledge Golkar's leadership before the two congresses to provide room for reconciliation.
Golkar lawmaker and Aburizal supporter Tantowi Yahya said on Thursday that Aburizal had contacted Yasonna to confirm the minister's statement about the government's acknowledgement of the legality of Aburizal's leadership as the result of the 2009 Golkar congress.
'Pak Ical called the minister [to confirm] whether he said so [about the legality of his leadership],' Tantowi said, calling Aburizal by his nickname.
'There was no [official] letter [but] according to law experts a statement from a public official has the same authority [as an official letter].'
Meanwhile, the party's ongoing dispute has caused concern among local residents.
Kemanggisan subdistrict head Tri Prasetyo said he had asked local community leaders to intensify security patrols in areas nearby the HQ complex.
'Despite the big name of the party, no Golkar officials contacted local officials like us to discuss [the impacts of the dispute],' he said.
'They need to be more sensitive as their center of activities is located in the middle of a densely populated area.'
