T

he bitter experience of being in the opposition camp over the past two years has pushed all candidates vying to be the next Golkar chairman to vow allegiance to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

A series of debates that kicked off on Sunday in Medan, North Sumatra, in front of the party’s local executives turned into a choir of support for the government, a stance that has been taken by the party after a reconciliation process earlier this year.

The party had been split into two factions, led by Aburizal Bakrie and Agung Laksono, following Aburizal’s insistence on keeping his leadership and opposing Jokowi’s administration after the 2014 presidential election.

House of Representatives Speaker Ade Komarudin emphasized that the ideology of Golkar was working to bring prosperity to the people, which, according to him, was why the party should continue to support Jokowi’s administration. He assured those concerned that Golkar would continue on this track under his leadership.

“We are a part of the government,” said Ade, adding that Golkar should work together with the government to improve the lot of the people.

Another strong contender in the race, Setya Novanto, told the audience, “I will cooperate with Jokowi if elected chairman”.

The 156 eligible voters from throughout Sumatra did not see any significant difference between Ade, Setya and the other hopefuls — Airlangga Hartarto, Mahyudin, Priyo Budi Santoso, Aziz Syamsuddin, Indra Bambang Utoyo and Syahrul Yasin Limpo — in terms of vision.

The lack of quality programs presented by the hopefuls seemed to reflect the pessimism expressed by several party members, many of whom questioned the seriousness of the debates.

Long before the committee in charge of the leadership race set up the formal debates to scrutinize the quality of candidates, each of the candidates had met with all eligible voters respectively in order to try and secure their votes.

Competing campaign teams accused each other of bribing voters, and several candidates were seen openly distributing money to their audience during their visits to the regions.

The deputy head of Golkar’s regional office in North Sumatra, M. Hanafiah Harahap, admitted that some candidates had approached regional leaders throughout the province long before the formal gathering on Monday, but assured that none of the 34 eligible voters in the area had engaged in vote-selling .

In addition to vote-buying, power struggles between party elites have also tainted Golkar’s leadership election.

Despite the dream of a fresh face to reform the party, the influence of old figures such as Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan are still clearly felt in Golkar.

Party members have made statements to the public signaling that the upcoming leadership race is a competition between Kalla and Luhut, who works as a surrogate for President Jokowi.

While some politicians preferred to keep things behind the curtain, quietly saying that Kalla was supporting Ade, others went public, accusing Luhut of using his power to endorse Setya.

Luhut has denied the allegation and only said that he “liked” Setya as an old party fellow.

Some members, such as Ahmad Doli Kurnia Tandjung, blatantly pointed the finger at Luhut, while some others, such as leadership hopeful Aziz Syamsuddin, employed a softer approach to plant suspicion in the public.

“I hope it’s just rumor. The competition will run smoothly without any intervention from old interests,” he said on the sidelines of the debate on Monday.

Although eight candidates have registered to compete in the race, the election day is expected to see Ade and Setya go face-to-face for control of the party.

Siti Zuhro, an analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), encouraged Golkar members to use the upcoming national congress to realize the change they have been aspiring for.

“It is a test to see whether Golkar can reform itself by breaking with the old tradition, which includes vote-buying and transactional politics,” she said.
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