Golkar Must Unite, Analysts Say

Fuente: 
The Jakarta Globe
Fecha de publicación: 
26 Nov 2013

The Golkar Party will need to work hard to consolidate internally if its chairman and presidential candidate, Aburizal Bakrie, is to score a victory in next year’s election, commentators say.

“Golkar is experienced in winning legislative elections, but is always vulnerable when it comes to presidential elections,” Gun Gun Heryanto, a political communications lecturer at Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, said on Tuesday.

“In the reform era, divisions within Golkar in the run-up to presidential elections have long been an issue.

“Remember how Wiranto [Golkar’s presidential candidate in 2004] and Jusuf Kalla [the candidate for 2009] lost?

“In both cases there was weakness in terms of the support for the candidate from within the party.”

Thus far the strongest criticism of Aburizal’s candidacy has come from the party’s district and municipal chapters, known collectively as the DPD II.

Members of the DPD II last week proposed that Golkar’s chief patron, Akbar Tanjung, and Kalla, the former vice president, be considered as alternative presidential candidates to Aburizal, a suggestion rejected by the party’s leaders.

Gun Gun said that Aburizal’s nomination was unpopular with the DPD II and that his high profile at the party’s national working meeting last week was an attempt to counter the negativity around his nomination.

Siti Zuhro, a researcher with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), echoed similar concerns and emphasized that Golkar’s elites needed to focus on unity.

She said that Golkar’s presidential election record was unlike to improve if party leaders continued to fight among themselves.

“Resistance from the party’s DPD II, which is known to have strong grassroots support, should warn the party that there are unresolved issues that need to be addressed,” Siti said.

“It is the party chairman’s responsibility to immediately respond to and solve the current problems.”

According to a poll published by Australia-based Roy Morgan research on Monday, Aburizal is the third most popular prospective candidate, with 14 percent of the vote, behind ex-general Prabowo Subianto (15 percent) and Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo (37 percent).

 

Author/Autor: Robertus Wardi

Souerce/Fuente:http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/golkar-must-unite-analysts-say/