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Analysis: Airlangga’s Golkar chairmanship in jeopardy, Luhut ready to overthrow
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Coordinating Maritime Affairs and Investment Minister Luhut Pandjaitan. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
A
irlangga Hartarto’s position as the chairman of the Golkar Party is currently treading precarious ground due to what is considered to be his lack of party leadership and maneuvering towards opposition presidential candidate Anies Baswedan. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s trusted man Luhut Pandjaitan is touted to be the next chairman and direct the party to give support to Jokowi’s preferred candidate Prabowo Subianto.
Golkar senior politician Lawrence Siburian, who firstly floated the idea of removing Airlangga, argued that Airlangga focused much on his role as the coordinating economic minister rather than managing the party’s future trajectories, including determining the next presidential candidate endorsed by Golkar. This has put United Indonesia Coalition (KIB), which Golkar is part of, on fragile grounds — a situation that has incited political maneuvers internally to elect a leader who can determine the future of the party.
Such a push to have Luhut replace Airlangga is also due to Airlangga’s tacit support for Anies Baswedan, Jokowi’s political rival. He met Anies in a secret meeting, arranged by Golkar, to offer himself as Anies’ vice-presidential candidate. Anies is supported by the Coalition for Change, which Golkar is not part of, and thus Airlangga neglected his current coalition and the current administration. This has led to Jokowi putting Airlangga in a difficult posistion, such as having him questioned by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) on the cooking oil scarcity case or even potentially removing Airlangga from his position as the Golkar chairman.
Luhut, currently serving as both Golkar’s advisory member and the coordinating maritime affairs and investment minister, is a man not without controversy. He has been named “the Minister of All” as he has managed more than 13 policy projects under Jokowi’s administration. He is also in a legal battle against human right activists Haris Azhar and Fatia Maulidiyanti. His latest controversy is related to the fact that he mentioned sting operations by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) were not effective to curb corruption and deemed it as “primitive” method.
With these controversies, some quarters question if his leadership in Golkar could improve the party’s electability in the short term. However, Luhut is optimistic that when elected to become the party’s chairman, he could secure at least 85 seats in the House of Representatives in next year’s elections – the same number Golkar has now, making it the second largest party in the House.
Nevertheless, Luhut is not only the person endorsed and recommended to lead the Golkar. There are several names, such as People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) speaker Bambang Soesatyo, Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia, Industry Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmista and Coordinating Human Development and Culture Minister Muhadjir Effendy.
Airlangga, however, is not silent. His men are making moves to prevent a special congress to remove him. It is said that he would declare the party’s endorsement of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo. He even plans to meet Jokowi for protection.
