Jakarta – The Golkar Party's re-election of Aburizal Bakrie for another five-year term as chairman appears to have dashed any hopes the ruling coalition of President Joko Widodo had of working with a weakened opposition.

Aburizal, who on Wednesday evening was declared to have obtained 100 percent of votes after all of his challengers dropped out of the running, used Golkar's national congress in Nusa Dua, Bali, to underscore his intention of binding Indonesia's oldest party – for 50 years a central part of whatever government happened to be in power – to the opposition Red-White coalition, or KMP, established by losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto.

Golkar is by far the biggest member of the five-party KMP, and on Tuesday evening Aburizal spoke out in support of one of the coalition's central policies: rejecting an emergency presidential decree, or perppu, to restore direct elections for regional leaders, after the KMP-dominated House of Representatives earlier this year passed legislation abolishing direct elections and instead giving regional legislatures the authority to choose governors, district heads and mayors.

"As all of you have suggested, we can reject the perppu," Aburizal said in his speech before congress participants.

The perppu, issued in early October by then-president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is only effective for three months, after which it must go before the House for approval.

The KMP controls at least 56 percent of seats at the House – and up to 63 percent if the fractious United Development Party, or PPP, possibly the only party in greater disarray than Golkar at the moment, is taken into account – making it likely that the perppu will be thrown out, and with it, direct local elections.

Critics of Aburizal accuse him of compelling the voting members at the congress – from the party's various regional chapters – to vote for him in exchange for his support of them in local elections administered by regional legislatures.

"I've heard from [other Golkar members] that those who vote for [Aburizal] will be made a governor, district head or mayor through regional elections by local legislatures," said Agun Gunandjar Sudarsa, a member of a splinter Golkar faction opposed to the party's congress and Aburizal's re-election.

Agun was among 17 party members, along with longtime stalwarts such as Agung Laksono and Priyo Budi Santoso, who were on Wednesday declared fired from the party by Nurdin Halid, the chairman of the congress's steering committee – a two-time corruption convict who was instrumental in subverting Golkar's voting mechanism such that Aburizal emerged the only candidate for chairman.

Aburizal dismissed any notion that he had promised the voting members such concessions, saying there had been no "transactions" involved at the congress.

'Dangerous situation'

Vice President Jusuf Kalla, the Golkar chairman before Aburizal and a highly regarded figure who was expected to, but did not, endorse a challenger to Aburizal ahead of the congress, declined on Wednesday to comment on the outcome.

"He's already re-elected, there's nothing I can do about it. I don't have the right to say whether his re-election is legitimate or not. It was acknowledged by Golkar, after all," Kalla said at the Vice Presidential Palace in Jakarta. He also refused to comment on a rival congress planned by the splinter faction for early next year.

Former Golkar member Poempida Hidayatullah, who was fired earlier this year for his support of the presidential ticket of Joko and Kalla, expressed his concern over the party's internal rift.

"This is a dangerous situation for Golkar. There's no more solidity. What's happening is [members are] firing each other," he said. "I only hope that there will be reconciliation. Other parties will laugh at this schism."

Others, though, have played down the degree of the split. Aburizal's re-election was "democratic," said Siti Zuhro, a political analyst with the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, or LIPI, who noted that those opposed to the chairman seeking a second term consisted of a small group.

Siti instead turned the spotlight on Golkar's unfamiliar role in the opposition, one that it has cemented following Aburizal's re-election.

"Golkar had always been part of the power. It's interesting that this is the first time Golkar is outside the power. We want to see what new things will be brought about by this," she said.

On the other hand, she added, Aburizal's re-election should be a lesson for younger Golkar members that if they want to compete against senior party figures, they must prepare for it well in advance.

"The young Golkar members shouldn't stay relaxed; they must make serious preparations, rather than gear up only one or two months before the election," Siti said.

No 2019 run?

Aburizal acknowledged at the congress that his days at the helm were limited and that he did not plan to run for president in the 2019 election, effectively holding out an olive branch to younger members.

"I think I'm getting older. Akbar [Tandjung, Golkar's chief patron] and I will just guide the younger members [to run for the presidency]," he said. "We will prepare members who we will nominate as national leaders."

Aburizal added that in response to criticism that he had failed to accommodate the aspirations of younger Golkar members, he would ensure that 70 percent of seats on the party's central executive board would go to younger members over the next five years. He did not give an age limit for what constituted a "young" member.

Aburizal's own presidential bid this year imploded spectacularly, after Golkar failed to get enough votes to be allowed to stand a candidate. He also earned the ire of many of the party's loyalists when he refused to endorse longtime member Kalla's vice presidential bid, and instead hitched the party to Prabowo's ultimately unsuccessful campaign.

Rival congress

The splinter faction led by Agung, until Wednesday a Golkar deputy chairman, has insisted it will go ahead with its own national congress on Jan. 15, after blasting the Bali congress as "undemocratic."

The group, calling itself the Presidium of Golkar Party Saviors, claims that Aburizal and his camp, notably Nurdin, manipulated the rules of the congress and threatened voting participants with dismissal to ensure he would win.

They did, however, also extend an invitation to Aburizal to take part in their congress, on condition that he meet the requirements in "achievements, dedication, loyalty and no involvement in disgraceful activities," Agun said. "But if I was tasked with verifying candidates' [compliance with the requirements], I wouldn't let him pass," he added.

"He has failed [Golkar] in the legislative elections and in the presidential election. He was even rejected in his bid to be vice president [to Prabowo or Joko]. You can imagine what will happen in 2019. With that kind of leader, [Golkar] will sink."

In turn, Aburizal has made it clear that any Golkar members who take part in the presidium's congress next month will be dismissed from the party.

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/red-white-coalition-strengthen-aburizals-golkar/