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Golkar elects state secretary as new leader

Source
Agence France Presse - July 11, 1998

Jakarta – Indonesia's ruling Golkar party on Saturday elected the country's State Secretary Akbar Tanjung as its new leader and officially snapped its last links with discredited former president Suharto. The result of the leadership vote was greeted with cheers and hailed as a victory for the party, which many had predicted could not survive in the post-Suharto era.

It was also widely seen as a victory for Suharto's sucessor, incumbent president B.J. Habibie. His followers had feared that Tanjung's rival for the leadership, retired General Edy Sudrajat, would move to oust Habibie. Said Golkar reformist Sarwono Kartasasmita after the vote: "This whole thing is a step ahead for Habibie's legitimacy. I can imagine how relieved he is to hear the result of this congress."

Sarwono also said he believed the military was behind Tanjung's victory. "There are signs that ABRI (the armed forces) supported him and have some intention (to use) Golkar. And that, if they can channel it openly, will be all right," he said.

Tanjung, 53, a Moslem and former minister of youth and sports, received 17 of the 27 provincial votes cast. Sudrajat, 60, polled 10 votes. It was the first vote in the history of the party, which in the past had simply followed the dictates of Suharto.

A cheer went up from the floor and the two rival candidates hugged one another when the results of the secret ballot, the party's first ever direct leadership vote, were announced on the final day of a three-day special party congress. "There are 302 people present, which constitutes more than two thirds of the delegates and thereby legitimises an election," Siswono Yudohusodo, the chaiman of the meeting, told the members.

Tanjung, born in the province of North Sumatra, said Friday he would be prepared to give up his position of state secretary if the party wished him to. A student leader in his youth, Tanjung has been a member of Golkar for 21 years. He represented East Java in 1977. In 1988, when he became Minister of Youth and Sports under Suharto, he became a member of the now-defunct Board of Patrons of the party. He also served as Minister of Housing from 1993 through 1998 and was appointed State Secretary by Habibie after Suharto stepped down on May 21.

Earlier Saturday, the congress approved a sub-committee decision taken Friday to abolish the Board of Patrons headed by ousted president Suharto. That move officially severed Suharto's links with Golkar, whose ability to survive without him has been questioned. The congress also saw the departure of Suharto's daughter Siti "Tutut" Hardiyanti Rukmana, one of the five members of the outgoing board which officially ended its tenure Friday. The last remaining official family link with the party was snapped when, in announcing the new office holders, Suharto's son, Bambang Trihartmojo, was replaced as party treasurer by a businessman.

On Friday the congress said Golkar had decided to turn itself into a "real" political party and raised the possibility of Tanjung becoming a candidate for the presidency of the country. "In the United States, England and Malaysia, party leaders become heads of state, it should be the same here too," said party deputy chairman Abdul Gafur.

Small groups of student demonstrators who have picketed the three-day congress daily since it convened on Thursday have called for Golkar to dissolve itself, calling it a remnant of the 32-year-long Suharto era.

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