President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has rejected a suggestion that his administration is behind a plot to oust Airlangga Hartarto as Golkar Party chairman and replace him with a politician from the President’s inner circle.

Appearing at an atypically tense press briefing on Thursday morning at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base in East Jakarta before his departure to Chengdu, China, Jokowi distanced himself from the feud unfolding between the Airlangga camp and his potential rivals in Golkar.

Last week, Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Panjaitan and Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, who are also senior Golkar politicians, expressed their readiness to take up the Golkar chairmanship after some party members openly called for Airlangga’s removal from the position.

"It is an internal Golkar affair and has nothing to do with us," the President said in response to a reporter’s question suggesting that Luhut and Bahlil had been gunning for the Golkar chairmanship.

Jokowi then turned to stare at Luhut, who stood nearby to his right.

“If Pak [Mr.] Luhut, Pak Bahlil or Pak Bambang Soesatyo have such an intention, it's their business, not ours,” the President said in a raised voice, referring to the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker, another Golkar politician who had emerged as a potential contender for party chair.

“It's an internal affair of Golkar," reiterated the President, who is a member of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

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