TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Airlangga supporters dismiss call to replace Golkar chairman
Golkar Party Chairman Airlangga Hartarto finds support from party executives and regional chapters, who say that an extraordinary congress to replace the chairman would be a waste of time ahead of the election.
Change Size
Golkar Party chairman Airlangga Hartarto gives a speech during a national working meeting in the party's headquarter in Slipi, West Jakarta, on June 4, 2023. (Antara/Sigid Kurniawan)
The internal conflict that has riven the Golkar Party continues with loyalists of party chairman and presumptive presidential nominee Airlangga Hartarto dismissing calls to remove him as current party leader and accusing dissenters of wanting to take over the party to back other candidates for their own interests.
As next year’s general elections approach, the country’s second-oldest party is facing pressure from its members to finalize its choice on a presidential nominee. A group of the party’s senior politicians has even pushed for an extraordinary congress to remove Airlangga as chairman should Golkar fail to do so.
But Agung Laksono, the chairman of Golkar’s advisory council, dismissed calls for a leadership change, describing the plea as a maneuver by “uninvited riders” seeking to undermine the party’s unity ahead of the elections.
“The council didn’t recommend an extraordinary congress at all,” Agung said on Thursday. “I ask for the spreading of this idea to be stopped.”
Read also: Senior Golkar politicians call for Airlangga’s removal if he fails to contest in 2024
Agung was referring to the advisory council’s joint recommendation issued during a three-hour meeting at his private residence on Sunday. During the meeting, the council discussed the party’s direction ahead of next year’s election.
Among key points agreed to in the meeting, according to a copy of the document obtained by The Jakarta Post, was for Golkar to set up an alternative electoral alliance to make sure the party has an electoral vehicle to have Airlangga as a contender in the presidential race. Such a move, it is claimed, would raise morale among all Golkar legislative candidates and help the party win the legislative election.
