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enior politician, media mogul and cofounder of mass organization the National Democrat — Surya Paloh — announced on Wednesday his resignation from the stalwart Golkar Party, where he spent all of his 43-year political career.

“I’ve reached an anti-climax with Golkar. Golkar doesn’t need me anymore. On the other hand, I also don’t need Golkar anymore,” Surya, who served as Golkar Party chief patron from 2004 to 2009, told a press conference at National Democrat office in Central Jakarta.

“With a firm awareness of this good opportunity, I am taking the initiative to leave Golkar so that the party’s executives will no longer be confused,” Surya said, prompting applause from some of the National Democrat members attending the conference.

Surya, however, said that he hoped that other Golkar politicians, who as of the announcement of his resignation were still listed as National Democrat members, would not follow in his footsteps.

“I will not interfere with anybody’s decision,” he said.

Surya’s resignation came after a barrage of criticism from fellow Golkar members, including chairman Aburizal “Ical” Bakrie, who questioned his loyalty to the party for leading a mass organization many alleged would transform into political party.

Golkar officially issued a circular ordering its members who had joined Surya’s National Democrat to leave the organization. The circular came a few weeks before the declaration of the Nasdem Party — which claims to have no affiliation with the National Democrat. Confusingly, the National Democrat organization is commonly referred to as Nasdem.

“This organization will never metamorphose into [a political party] or have links to any political parties … But Golkar has somehow seen this organization as a potential political threat,” Surya said.

Many, however, have questioned the claim.

“Ask the Nasdem party why they made a logo which resembles the one belonging to the National Democrat, and picked a party name which is similar to the abbreviation of this organization,” Surya said.

Surya cofounded the organization in 2010, not long after he lost the Golkar chairmanship race to businessman Aburizal. Many of the organization’s cofounders are Golkar senior figures, including Syamsul Muarif and Yogyakarta Sultan Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X. The sultan, however, left the organization in July, citing that the emergence of the Nasdem Party was an indication that the National Democrat was no longer a non-political organization.

In his resignation speech, Surya also criticized Golkar’s failure to attract young voters. “In the last three general elections, Golkar’s votes have continued to drop. Something has gone wrong with the party.”

Ical, meanwhile, said that he appreciated Surya’s decision, according to party executive Lalu Mara. “It is a sympathetic political choice which I should respect,” Lalu told The Jakarta Post, quoting Ical’s statement.

A senior Golkar politician who is now one of House of Representatives deputy speakers, Priyo Budi Santoso, said he would miss Surya, whom he respected as one of Golkar’s key patrons who had helped the party through difficult years after the fall of president Soeharto in 1998.

“I was initially one of those who hoped that Surya would not leave Golkar. This party will miss one of its best members,” Priyo said.

Golkar’s move to ban any of its members from joining the National Democrat mass organization has triggered rifts between the party’s executives and its members who joined the organization.

Some Golkar members at the National Democrat succumbed but others did not immediately obey the ban, such as former lawmaker Ferry Mursydan Baldan, who called the circular “undemocratic”.

“If Golkar’s central executive board insists on firing me, go ahead. But I will never resign from my beloved Golkar Party,” Ferry said on Wednesday.