T

he dispute committee of the Golkar Party has yet to end the conflict between its two rival leadership camps as panel members were divided in their conclusions on Tuesday. The chairman of the dispute tribunal'€™s panel, Djasri Marin, and member Andi Mattalatta recognized the leadership of Agung Laksono, who was elected chairman in a national congress in Jakarta.

'€œWe approved the leadership determined by the party congress in Ancol, North Jakarta, initiated by Agung Laksono. The ruling also instructs the winning party to accommodate members from [the rival faction], whose membership was established by the party'€™s congress in Bali,'€ Djasri said, reading the verdict at the party hearing.

Djasri argued that the national congress in Bali that recommended Agung'€™s rival, Aburizal Bakrie, as party chairman was undemocratic, while the Jakarta congress that announced Agung'€™s leadership was more open.

The country'€™s second largest party split into two factions after Agung'€™s camp refused to follow a recommendation to hold a national congress in Bali and the group later held the Jakarta congress.

Despite the verdict read out by Djasrin, another two members of the dispute tribunal, Muladi and Ahmad Syarifuddin Natabaya, refused to recommend anything from the forum, arguing that Aburizal'€™s camp was still petitioning to the Supreme Court for a cassation of a West Jakarta District Court verdict on the dispute.

The district court earlier recommended both conflicting factions to resolve their dispute internally.

Muladi added that the winning camp should avoid a '€œwinner takes all'€ approach by embracing members from the losing camp and including them in the membership of the legitimate leadership legalized by Tuesday'€™s verdict.

'€œThe legitimate leadership should also rehabilitate members who were earlier fired from the party [following the leadership dispute]. As for the losing camp, they must vow not to form a new party,'€ Muladi said of his recommendation as recorded in the ruling.

Muladi, who is also the chairman of the party'€™s internal dispute committee and a supporter of Aburizal, had earlier refused to appoint a tribunal to resolve the conflict.

After the delivery of the verdict, Agung reiterated that his leadership would stick to its earlier plan to join the pro-government coalition to support President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo'€™s administration, adding that Aburizal'€™s camp should accept the ruling to create a harmonious relationship within the party to heal the months-long leadership dispute.

Agung further said that he would register his leadership with the Law and Human Rights Ministry the next day.

'€œWe will visit the ministry tomorrow [Wednesday],'€ Agung said at the Golkar Party headquarters.

Aburizal'€™s camp has refused to accept the tribunal'€™s ruling, claiming that the result was a draw.

A supporter of Aburizal, Fadel Muhammad, said that the ruling did not declare victory for Agung as two of the four judges dissented.

'€œThe result is a draw. Muladi and [Ahmad] did not say anything about [Agung'€™s victory],'€ Fadel said at the party headquarters.

Fadel said that Aburizal had predicted the result of today'€™s hearing as the two other judges, Andi and Djasri, had a tendency to support Agung'€™s camp.

Aburizal, who did not attend the reading of the verdict, said that the tribunal bench was divided, hence no decision could result from the forum.

'€œSince the result of the party'€™s dispute tribunal is inconclusive, the case should be taken back to court,'€ he tweeted from @aburizalbakrie on Tuesday night.