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Ministry legalizes Aburizal Bakrie'€™s leadership of Golkar Party

Reconciliation: Flanked by Aburizal Bakrie (right) and Agung Laksono (left), both of whom claim to be the legitimate chairman of the Golkar Party, Vice President Jusuf Kalla discusses party reconciliation efforts to journalists at a recent event

The Jakarta Post
Jakarta
Thu, December 31, 2015

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Ministry legalizes Aburizal Bakrie'€™s leadership of Golkar Party Reconciliation: Flanked by Aburizal Bakrie (right) and Agung Laksono (left), both of whom claim to be the legitimate chairman of the Golkar Party, Vice President Jusuf Kalla discusses party reconciliation efforts to journalists at a recent event. (Kompas/Fabian Januarius Kuwado) (right) and Agung Laksono (left), both of whom claim to be the legitimate chairman of the Golkar Party, Vice President Jusuf Kalla discusses party reconciliation efforts to journalists at a recent event. (Kompas/Fabian Januarius Kuwado)

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span class="inline inline-center">Reconciliation: Flanked by Aburizal Bakrie (right) and Agung Laksono (left), both of whom claim to be the legitimate chairman of the Golkar Party, Vice President Jusuf Kalla discusses party reconciliation efforts to journalists at a recent event. (Kompas/Fabian Januarius Kuwado)

The Law and Human Rights Ministry has revoked a decree that previously recognized the Golkar Party leadership as that which emanated from a national meeting (Munas) at Hotel Mercure, Ancol, Jakarta, in December 2014. The revocation has paved the way for the camp of Aburizal Bakrie to take full of control the party.

Nurdin Halid, deputy chairman of the Golkar Party'€™s central executive board, (DPP) was elected in November last year. He confirmed the revocation of the decree and understood that the government now fully recognized Aburizal'€™s leadership of the Golkar Party.

Nurdin said a staff member of Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly handed over the new decree on the Golkar Party leadership to Idrus Marham, the party'€™s secretary-general, at the DPP Golkar office on Thursday morning.

'€œIt was handed over directly to the DPP Golkar office at around 7:30 a.m.,'€ said Nurdin as quoted by kompas.com in Jakarta on Thursday.

He did not give further details about the content of the minister'€™s decree except to say that it was issued to implement the Supreme Court ruling that legalized Aburizal'€™s leadership of the Golkar Party.

'€œWith this new decree, the Golkar Party leadership elected in Munas Ancol has been officially dissolved,'€ said Nurdin.

The dispute over the leadership of the Golkar Party was brought before the court. The two bickering factions led by Aburizal and Agung Laksono filed lawsuits against each other.

On Oct. 20, the court granted Aburizal'€™s lawsuit against a decree previously issued by the government that legalized the camp of Agung.

On Tuesday, the Golkar Party'€™s advisory council head Akbar Tandjung called on the Aburizal and Agung camps to immediately hold a national meeting in the beginning of 2016. This was needed because there had been signs of improvement in the party despite ongoing difficulties in the reconciliation process, he said.

'€œLegal processes, reconciliation efforts and even meetings to strengthen bonds of friendships have been conducted but up until now, there has been no indication that the situation in the party will get better. Therefore, we will call for a Munas in the beginning of 2016,'€ said Akbar as quoted by kompas.com.

He further noted that all previous reconciliation efforts had been unable to deliver positive results. Both Aburizal and Agung claimed that they had authority as Golkar Party chairman and this had produced a deeper internal split within the party, he added.

Akbar further explained that the internal split had led the Golkar Party to suffer losses in the regional elections on Dec. 9. During the elections, he said, the number of votes obtained by the party was far lower compared to the other parties. Golkar managed to win in 49 out of 116 regions, placing the party eighth among parties with the highest number of votes. (ebf)

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