By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, Oct 7 (ANTARA) - The Golkar Party which is now holding its Eighth Congress in Riau province needs to reposition itself in order to win critical voters ahead and to regain its past glory.
"Golkar has to use the congress as a good momentum to reposition itself because it needs a new position to avoid an impression of being identical with the New Order," Burhanuddin Muhtadi, a political scientist of Paramadina University, said.
It seems however that Golkar in the current congress spends much time and energy concentrating on who it will elect general chairman for the 2009-2014 term of office, succeeding Jusuf Kalla.
In the current congress there are four aspirants which are racing for the Golkar top post, namely Golkar Chief Patron Surya Paloh, Supervisory Board member Aburizal Bakrie, Golkar young cadre Yuddy Chrisnandi and Hutomo Mandala Putra or Tommy Soeharto, the late president Soeharto's youngest son.
"The congress should serve as a starting point for Golkar to discuss strategies on how to rise again ahead. But it seems that provincial and district executive boards (DPD I and II) are using the forum to nurture transactional politics to decide who is most proper to chair the party," Muhtadi said.
Virtually, the four candidates have their respective visions and missions on how to develop Golkar, but the visions and missions are being swallowed by hustle and bustle of money offers and ads.
"It seems that Golkar has not changed yet as reflected in the high nuance of transactional politics. It is too busy talking about who would be named chairman, while the chairmanship matter is only one of the many issues that the congress has to discuss," Muhtadi said.
On the second day of the congress on Tuesday rivalries among aspirants looked sharpening, particularly between the camp of Aburizal Bakrie and that of Surya Paloh.
Bakrie even happened to accuse outgoing general chairman Jusuf Kalla of being on the sides of one of his rivals. Kalla in his opening address of the congress said that Golkar was not used to staying outside the government. "But neither is it used to begging for (executive) power," he said.
Surya Paloh has campaigned that if he was elected chairman he would make Golkar an independent party and lead it outside the government in the next 2009-2014 term of office. "If elected, Surya Paloh will lead Golkar to be independent and stay outside the government to ensure the proper functioning of democracy in the country, a member of Paloh's success team, Sugeng Suprawoto, said.
On Kalla's statement, Aburizal Bakrie's supporters, including Akbar Tanjung (a former Golkar chairman) strongly criticized Kalla's remarks, saying that Kalla was inconsistent and was trying to bring the party into the opposition side.
But to the press, Aburizal Bakrie also said that Kalla's statement was a personal statement. "For me Golkar should be independent, and independent to think about its cadres and independent in its acts," he said.
Akbar Tanjung was of the opinion that Kalla should not have made such a statement in his opening address, saying Kalla was inconsistent with the Golkar congress in Bali in 2004.
Tanjung said that in 2004 he proposed that Golkar should stay outside the government but Kalla, when elected as general chairman, brought the party to support the government.
"But why now Kalla wants Golkar to stay outside the government. His statement was a personal opinion, not of the party. If the government asks Golkar cadres to fill cabinet posts, why not," Tanjung, who now also seemed to be inconsistent with his position in 2004, said.
Kalla told reporters later that his statement in his opening address was not a personal opinion but in his capacity as a general chairman of a political party. "As the general chairman, that is my views for Golkar's future," Kalla told reporters.
He said Golkar should supervise the government in the sense that it should provide a critical, objective, proportional and constructive criticism for the need for a check and balance. "This is important to prevent the recurrence of a new order government style," Kalla said.
Kalla's position became a top issue among 1,600 congress participants and over 10,000 sympathizers who came from throughout Indonesia to Riau to listen to his opening address on Monday night.
Bakrie responded to Kalla's position accusing him of taking sides with one his rivals. "Kalla seems to have taken sides. But I heard and I asked him, he said he had not. So, I consider the matter to be his personal opinion," Aburizal Bakrie said.
In the meantime, Surya Paloh said if he was elected Golkar Party chairman he would not prohibit party cadres from being appointed as cabinet ministers or filling other government posts although Golkar was independent.
"If elected, Surya Paloh will not prohibit cadres from being appointed to certain posts in the government, including in the cabinet. But he will not beg for government posts for Golkar cadres," Sugeng Suprawoto, said.
He said Golkar would appreciate it if a Golkar cadre was appointed for a cabinet post. But if the cadre concerned was a party board member, he or she would have to resign from the board.
Rivalry in the Golkar chairmanship race is not the only important issue in the current Golkar congress. More importantly, the congress should look into how to develop a strong Golkar to regain its past glory in the future.
For this, according to Burhanudddin Muhtadi, besides repositioning, the Golkar congress should also re-evaluate its defeat in the recent legislative and presidential elections. It needs to find out why its vote turnout dropped drastically.
Muhtadi also suggested that Golkar should turn its congress as a forum to formulate reconciliation and regeneration steps to build consolidation. "Golkar must be strong and rise to regain its past glory," he said.***1*** (T.A014/a/H-NG/a014) (T.A014/A/A014/A/A014) 07-10-2009 12:19:17
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