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Power struggle grips Golkar ahead of 2024 polls
Tension within the Golkar Party is brewing, as an open broadside unleashed by some party members against the presidential bid of chairman Airlangga Hartarto in next year’s election has prompted some of his other colleagues to express readiness to take over his post in a snap party poll.
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Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto waves from inside his car after attending a limited Cabinet meeting at the State Palace in Jakarta on July 10, 2023. (Antara/Akbar Nugroho Gumay)
Tension within the Golkar Party is brewing, as an open broadside unleashed by some party members against the presidential bid of chairman Airlangga Hartarto in next year’s election has prompted some of his other colleagues to express readiness to take over his post in a snap party poll.
Several senior Golkar politicians have begun presenting themselves as viable alternatives to Airlangga to help rejuvenate the country’s oldest party, which is facing a dip in popularity ahead of the 2024 presidential and legislative elections. Airlangga has been eyeing to run for president despite his persistently low electability in various opinion polls.
Luhut Binsar Panjaitan, who chairs the party’s advisory board and serves as the coordinating maritime affairs and investment minister in the Cabinet, suggested in an interview with Kompas TV last week that he was ready to contest the party leadership poll to replace Airlangga if there was support among members.
While he stressed that he preferred to not have any fight with Airlangga, Luhut took aim at the current leadership for “appearing to be selling itself short, offering itself to too many”.
“It’s disheartening to see Golkar continue to sink,” Luhut said. “If one can't be a presidential, vice presidential candidate, we have other things to attend to: bolstering [our performance] in legislative elections […] Do not let our ambitions lead us to our own downfall.”
Another member considering a bid for the party’s top post is Bahlil Lahadalia, a 46-year-old long-time entrepreneur who is serving as the investment minister. Despite claiming in 2019 to have quit Golkar, Bahlil said he was concerned with the party’s declining electability and “felt a responsibility” to lend the party a helping hand.
"I think, as a party member who grew up with [Golkar], [anyone would] be concerned seeing their party’s electability having fallen to 6 percent. And all members who meet the requirements will definitely feel a call of duty," Bahlil told a group of media leaders on Saturday, as quoted by several media.
