Golkar looks to incumbent, military man for victory

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 04/11/2008 12:32 PM  |  National

The incumbent West Java governor, Danny Setiawan, has tapped a retired Army general to be his running mate and won the backing of two major parties, Golkar and the Democratic Party (PD), in his reelection bid.

The governor is also making full use of the bureaucracy to ensure his victory in the province's first direct gubernatorial election.

Deploying Golkar-affiliated regents to campaign for him, Danny said he was optimistic the more than 400,000 civil servants in West Java and their family member would vote for him and his running mate, Iwan Suladjana, former head of the Siliwangi Military Command, overseeing security in West Java and Banten.

"A total of 1.2 million civil servants and their relatives will not only vote for us, but also persuade their neighbors and relatives in the province...," the governor said at a recent campaign rally in provincial capital Bandung.

Danny said he hoped to continue his development programs to provide free education and healthcare for all residents, revitalize the agriculture sector and repair damage infrastructure to improve living standards.

"We have to improve the province's human development index from 67.8 points in 2007 to 80 points in 2010."

He also pledged more care for fishermen, farmers and laborers, three vulnerable groups in the province.

"The agriculture sector must be revitalized and the investment climate must be repaired to cope with unemployment, which reached 1.3 million in 2007."

Golkar provincial chapter chairman Uu Rukmana said his party was confident of success in the election. He said Danny was well known after having served one five-year term as governor, and Iwan had ties to informal leaders and military families in the province.

"Danny has spent his whole life serving the province and he knows what he has to do to address the problems the people are facing," Uu said recently.

He said Golkar and the Democratic Party, with their strong political support in the province, matched up very well with other parties and coalitions in all of the province's 26 regencies and municipalities

"Hundreds of trained members and campaigners have been deployed in subdistricts and villages to get the political engine moving. They are loyal and are working hard for Danny and Iwan," he said.

Uu said Golkar and the Democratic party controlled 37 percent of seats in the provincial legislature and 20 percent of seats in 17 municipal and regency legislatures, including Bandung, Cimahi, Bekasi, Sumedang, Indramayu, Bogor, Cirebon, Ciamis, Tasikmalaya and Garut.

The two parties raised Rp 8 billion to fund their pair's campaign activities for the two-week campaign that ended April 9.

House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono, who is from Golkar, also campaigned for Danny and Iwan, and said he was optimistic the pair would grab at least 12 million votes.

He said the race in West Java would be used to measure Golkar's performance in upcoming governor elections in Central and East Java.

Danny and Iwan have received at least the tacit support of the central government, with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono the chairman of the Democratic Party's board of patrons and Vice President Jusuf Kalla chairman of Golkar.

EYE-BOX

Governor candidate Vice governor candidate
1. Name Danny Setiawan Iwan Sulanjana
2. Place/Date of birth Purwakarta, 1945 Bogor, 1951
3. Residence Bandung Bogor
4. Education MBA Army academy
5. Organization Bicycle sport union -
6. Last position West Java governor Assistant to Army chief
7. Vision: Improve social welfare of West Java residents
8. Mission:

-improve the people's living standards, especially in

education, healthcare and job creation

-develop West Java's competitiveness

-maintain security and political stability

-better public service

-strengthen the people's attachment to the Indonesian unitary

state.

A  |   A  |   A  |    |   |    |    |    |  

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