T

he Golkar Party has taken another major step forward in healing its internal rift after the leaders of the two rival camps agreed to restore the rights of party members who were dismissed throughout the entire course of the conflict.

Aburizal Bakrie, the chairman of Golkar as elected in the 2009 national congress in Riau, said that he would honor the recent decree issued by the Law and Human Rights Ministry, which reinstated the leadership roster from the Riau congress to allow the party to host a new congress that would settle the leadership dispute.

Among the points brought up in the recent decree, the government ordered Golkar to restore the rights of members who had been dismissed by Aburizal for insubordination during a previous attempt to host a congress in Bali in 2014.

'€œThe ministerial decree clearly states the names [of executives from the old roster], and we will retain those names, even at the regional branch level,'€ Aburizal said after a meeting with rival Agung Laksono at the private residence of Vice President Jusuf Kalla in Central Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Agung, who resumed his position as Aburizal'€™s deputy following the issuance of the ministerial decree, was among those dismissed for opposing several of Aburizal'€™s political decisions in the lead-up to the 2014 national congress.

Other executives who had been shown the door were Priyo Budi Santoso, Zainudin Amali, Agun Gunanjar Sudarsa, Leo Nababan and Yorrys Raweyai.

Eager to block Aburizal'€™s claim to the chairmanship, Agung and his supporters had banded together to form a new management roster, which was legitimized at a national congress in Jakarta in November 2014, before being annulled at the end of 2015 by a ministerial decree honoring a Supreme Court ruling from October.

At least 18 senior Golkar politicians were dismissed as a result of the prolonged infighting, which had been brewing since the party failed to secure victory in the 2014 legislative elections.

Tensions flared after the incumbent chairman threw support behind Prabowo Subianto of the Gerindra Party in the presidential election, resulting in the party'€™s ouster from the ruling circle for the first time in its 50-year history.

As returning deputy chairman of the party, Agung said that the source of conflict surrounding the dismissal of members had been resolved and their rights restored.

'€œFrom the very beginning '€” even before today, we agreed not to continue the practice [of dismissals]. Whoever was wronged will be rehabilitated,'€ Agung said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Kalla, who has been working as a mediator in the conflict, revealed that the party was open to the possibility of amending its statutes and bylaws in the hopes of preventing future conflict.

'€œLet'€™s just say the party statutes and rules will undergo relevant changes in order to promote unity in Golkar and avoid future conflicts like this,'€ Kalla said after the meeting. '€œWe'€™ll improve the system within Golkar [to ensure] a democratic national congress,'€ he added.

In the meeting, Kalla personally asked the two camps not to include what he deemed as '€œproblematic'€ individuals as organizing members of the party'€™s upcoming congress, an apparent swipe at former executives Nurdin Halid and Yorrys Raweyai.

'€œHe wants figures who are amenable and accommodating to all,'€ Agung said.

Separately, political analyst Gun Gun Heryanto said the current roster of Golkar executives would do well to restore the rights of its dismissed members to ensure the future of the party.
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