Steering committee chairman Nurdin Halid said the contributions were part of the requirements each applicant had to meet, and this requirement would be applied strictly to all would-be chairman candidates once they passed the verification process.

“The decision was based on our calculations on the amount of money needed to cover activities directly related to their nomination, such as the organizing of candidate debates, campaign activities and transportation costs,” Nurdin told journalists on the sidelines of a committee meeting at the party’s headquarters in Slipi, West Jakarta, on Wednesday.

Nurdin added that the donation served as a “fence” to prevent chairman candidates from money politics, such as giving money for transportation, accommodation and pocket money to participants of the Munaslub.

He further said that the committee had initially prepared five models of contribution. The donation of Rp 5-10 billion chosen at the plenary meeting was the fifth option. The high of the donation was based on the estimation that there would be six to nine prospective candidates.

Aside from the collection of candidate contributions, spending on the Munaslub would be shouldered by the party’s central executive board, so that the congress could run smoothly and “clean”. In return for the paid contributions, Golkar plans to set up stages for the chairman candidates to campaign at events to be attended by their supporters.

Nurdin said Golkar would need approximately Rp 85 billion to hold the national congress that had been postponed to May 27 in Bali.

The senior Golkar politician explained that money politics had always been related closely to pocket money payments for congress participants. The pocket money always accounted for the largest portion of overall conference costs.

Nurdin said the steering committee’s decision on the contribution fund was only a recommendation so far. He added that the party's central executive board had the final say on whether or not to apply the recommendation.

Azis Syamsuddin, one of the party's chairman candidates, refused to comment on the candidate contribution requirement and said he would wait for the results of the party's central board plenary meeting on the recommendation.

"I haven't seen the recommendation. This is the result of the steering committee's meeting. There will be a central board plenary meeting. We'll wait for that," Azis told thejakartapost.com on Wednesday evening.

Another chairman candidate, Idrus Marham, called on all parties to respect the steering committee’s recommendation, which he called a “political creation”.

Idrus noted hat the committee’s decision would still be discussed at Golkar’s central executive board's plenary meeting, the highest-level decision-making forum in the party.

"As to whether there are acceptable arguments for this political creation, we will wait for the explanation at the plenary meeting," Idrus said on Wednesday evening.

Great support

Golkar has so far gathered donations of Rp 126.15 million and S$3,000 in the week from April 13 to April 20 for the Bali congress.

Steering committee member Andi Sinulingga said on Wednesday the donation idea had been initiated by the party's younger generation, who aimed to ensure that the upcoming Munaslub could be an independent event free from business interests.

Andi said the donation fund would not be used for candidate campaigns, as those would be covered by different donations. (ebf)

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