T

he camp of Aburizal Bakrie has consolidated its power over the Golkar Party by approving a shake-up of the party'€™s faction at the House of Representatives, removing members believed to be loyalists of House speaker candidate Ade Komarudin, the current faction leader.

A letter from the Golkar faction circulated on Wednesday requested that House leadership immediately approve a new line up for the party'€™s faction at the legislative body, a move that many saw as a precursor for Setya Novanto'€™s aim to take over the faction leadership.

Following the decision from Setya to vacate his position as House speaker, Ade was nominated to replace him. Setya resigned from the leadership post to avoid political embarrassment in an alleged conspiracy to renew the contract of PT Freeport Indonesia in exchange for government projects.

Instead of being stripped of his authority, Setya, whom many believe to be competing with Ade to succeed Aburizal as party leader, signed the letter detailing the new line-up for the Golkar faction after having received support from Aburizal.

Ade is known to have forged close ties with President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo, most notably with the President accepting his invitation to the activities of the Central Organization for Indonesian Employees (SOKSI). SOKSI is chaired by Ade and is a major contributor of votes for Golkar.

Unlike Setya, Ade has openly praised the Jokowi administration and has pledged to extend his support in passing crucial issues in the House.

Nurdin Halid, deputy chairman of Golkar'€™s central board under Aburizal, confirmed the authenticity of the letter, saying that it was a follow-up to the central board'€™s decision that was approved by Aburizal and secretary-general Idrus Marham.

'€œThe letter follows up on the party'€™s central board decision from Dec. 24. It already conforms [to the instruction of the chairman],'€ Nurdin told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

Nurdin brushed off speculation that the fresh shake-up was related to infighting among party bigwigs. '€œThat'€™s just a common misconception,'€ he said.

'€œCertainly there are objective and subjective considerations. Objectively speaking, the central board wishes to have strong teamwork within the faction, while subjectively, we have a need for certain individuals to take certain types of jobs,'€ said Nurdin, who is a former chairman of the Soccer Association of Indonesia (PSSI).

Apart from the Setya-Ade swap, the letter also ordered other changes in the faction line up, most notably by replacing current faction secretary Bambang Soesatyo with Azis Syamsuddin, the chairman of House Commission III overseeing legal affairs.

Bambang, who had been critical of Setya during the Freeport incident, claimed not to know about the faction reshuffle, but said he would not resist the decision.

'€œEven if the news about the reshuffle is true, I don'€™t mind it one bit [...] It doesn'€™t change my stance or conviction. If someone makes a mistake, I will definitely criticize them,'€ he told the Post on Wednesday.

Bambang did, however, point out that there had yet to be any formal change to the faction roster, saying that the changes needed to go through the formal mechanisms and be approved by a definitive House speaker, not an acting official.

'€œBesides, we'€™re still in recess,'€ he added.

The circulating letter also ordered the replacement of House budget committee (Banggar) chairman Ahmadi Noor Supit with Kahar Muzakir, the former House ethics council chairman brought in by the party to defend Setya in his recent ethics case. The letter also listed Robert Joppy Kardinal as faction treasurer.

Ahmadi confirmed the reshuffle, indicating that it was motivated by competition among factions. '€œAll [of the replacements] come from Setya Novanto'€™s gang,'€ Ahmadi said.
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