The Golkar Party's central executive board (DPP) has invited the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to control an upcoming meeting of the party that is set to be held before this year'€™s Idul Fitri celebration, a party senior member said on Saturday.

The chairman of Golkar's law and human rights division, as chosen at the Riau Munas in 2009, Muladi, said the presence of the KPK to supervise the meeting was aimed at preventing vote buying, which often marred the elections of the party's chairmen.

Muladi added that to organize the upcoming Munas, the Golkar DPP had established steering and organizing committees whose personnel were from among the party's previous leaders who were chosen for five years at the Riau Munas in 2009 and who had recently had their terms extended by the government.

'€œThe Munas will be supervised by national leaders and the KPK. The meeting costs may be not too high, but the amount of the bribe money circulating in the meeting may be huge. That'€™s why we have intentionally invited the KPK to control the Munas,'€ Muladi told thejakartapost.com.

The senior politician said that the presence of the antigraft body hopefully could prevent the vote-buying that had often tainted the chairmanship elections.

'€œYou can imagine, if 500 people attend the meeting and each of them is given Rp 1 billion (US$73,000), it means there will be Rp 500 billion being prepared for the vote buying. Such practices must be eliminated. There should be no more vote buying. That'€™s why we have asked the KPK to lend a hand to control the meeting,'€ said Muladi, who is also the party'€™s internal tribunal head.

Muladi said he was optimistic that the Golkar Party would be able to completely resolve its leadership dispute before this year'€™s Idul Fitri celebration.

'€œThe two bickering factions in the party have made peace. There have been no more problems. We'€™re certain that before Idul Fitri, all will have been completely resolved,'€ he said, referring to an agreement reached during the party'€™s national leadership meeting (Rapimnas), held in Jakarta from Jan. 23 to Jan. 25 by the Golkar leadership faction that was formed in the Bali Munas in November 2014 and led by Aburizal Bakrie.

In the Rapimnas, Aburizal conveyed a pledge of allegiance to the government to three ministers who were in attendance, namely Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut D. Panjaitan, Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo and Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly .

Vice President Jusuf Kalla witnessed the hand-over of the declaration signed by Aburizal and party secretary-general Idrus Marham.

Following the declaration, Kalla confirmed that the government would issue an approval letter for the Aburizal camp to hold an extraordinary national meeting. Any decision resulting from the meeting will have to be accepted by all parties, including the splinter group led by Agung Laksono.

Muladi denied a rumor that said that the creation of a new party called the Indonesia Golkar Party would be declared in a near future.

'€œThis [rumor] was created only by political adventurers who have nothing. The party'€™s internal tribunal has since the very beginning rejected the idea to establish a new party. Before Idul Fitri, it will all be settled down. The steering and organizing committees comprising the party leaders selected at the Riau Munas are currently working together to achieve that,'€ said Muladi. (ebf)

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