TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Agung camp takes over faction office in House
The government-approved camp of the Golkar Party led by Agung Laksono took over the party faction office at the House of Representatives after hours of resistance from the rival camp led by Aburizal Bakrie
Change Size
T
he government-approved camp of the Golkar Party led by Agung Laksono took over the party faction office at the House of Representatives after hours of resistance from the rival camp led by Aburizal Bakrie.
The two rival groups have been battling over control at the House after Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly issued a decree validating the leadership of Agung last week, triggering more conflict between the party's elites in Jakarta.
Golkar deputy chairman Yorrys Raweyai finally broke into the office on Monday night and Golkar's new House faction chairman, Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita, held a closed meeting with the rival group in the office.
Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Unggung Cahyono was present to offer security to the House politicians.
'I'm here to make sure that everything is safe and neutral,' he said.
Escalating tensions between the two competing groups within Golkar peaked on Monday as both tried to occupy the faction's office in the House.
Tensions almost turned violent when Yorrys broke into the office, since Aburizal's camp, which lost legitimacy after the ministerial decree, refused to hand over the office, located on the 12th floor of the House's building.
Lawmakers from the Aburizal camp refused new faction leaders from the Agung camp, arguing that the latter's leadership still required approval from House leaders, according to the Legislative Institution Law.
'I don't understand why they are so insistent about the control of the party because we are legitimate. We can talk about it calmly but it seems that they just don't want to,' said Yorrys.
Responding to the rival camp's resistance, Yorrys and other supporters from the winning camp blockaded all doors around the faction's office, keeping several executives from the losing camp locked in the room for nearly one hour until Agus and his entourage were allowed to enter to use the conference room.
'We come in peace. We want to discuss this matter with our colleagues from the other camp in order to end the fight. We must not fight each other any longer, we need to do our jobs,' Agus said.
Executives from the Aburizal camp, including lawmakers Ade Komaruddin and Bambang Soesatyo, however, refused to meet, arguing that they did not want to get involved in physical violence.
Earlier in the day, the Aburizal camp filed a police report against Agus for falsifying documents by using the Golkar letterhead without permission, which violated Article 236 of the Criminal Code (KUHP).
'Agus Gumiwang is not actually a member of the Golkar Party anymore. We have proof in the form of a letter that states he was fired in June 2014. We have proof that he falsified documents to make it seem like he was appointed by Agung Laksono's camp as the new faction head,' said Ali Samiarta, the lawyer of the Aburizal camp.
After he filed the report, Ali explained that Bambang and Ade were still considering whether to file a report against Agus for violating Articles 167 and 335 of the KUHP for trespassing and using violence to seize control of the party's office.
'However, for now we are only charging him with Article 236,' he said.
