Sri Wahyuni, Yogyakarta – Golkar Party cadres from the party's founding organizations piled more pressure on party chairman Akbar Tandjung on Saturday to quit his post to rid the party of its bad image in the run-up to the 2004 general election.
Members of the MKGR, SOKSI, and Kosgoro – three major organizations that helped establish Golkar – issued a written statement in Yogyakarta on Saturday calling on Akbar to resign.
"We sincerely want to prick Akbar Tandjung's conscience so that he will lucidly and rationally consider temporarily stepping down from his present post," read a statement released by the organizations at a press conference here on Sunday.
The statement, titled Renungan Yogya (Yogya Contemplation), was issued following an overnight discussion involving 170 leaders and members of the MKGR, SOKSI and Kosgoro on Golkar's prospects in the 2004 general election.
Among those attending the discussion were Agung Laksono from Kosgoro, who is also Golkar's deputy chairman, MKGR chairman Irsyad Sudiro and the MKGR's deputy chairman Zainal Bintang.
Speaking at the press conference, Zainal Bintang said that Akbar's resignation from the party's top post would be the best solution to save the Golkar Party from a trouncing in the 2004 general election.
"Unless he resigns from the post, we are not sure if we will be able to maintain, much less increase, our share of the vote," said Bintang.
"However, everything is up to Akbar. But he should not forget that if he persists in staying on in his current post, it will not be fair on the party. It will ruin the party in the coming election," he said.
He noted that the cost of maintaining Akbar in his current position would be too high for the party to bear. "We could lose half of the votes we took in the last election," he said.
Agung Laksono is among those inside the party who have openly asked Akbar to step aside following Akbar's conviction in a Rp 40 billion (US$4.4. million) corruption case.
Other Golkar executives who have also called for Akbar's resignation include Marwah Daud Ibrahim, Fahmi Idris and Theo Sambuaga.
In an apparent bid at damage limitation, Akbar had threatened to sanction those calling on him to resign. However, Akbar made an about face on Sunday when he said he would not fire any party members demanding his resignation.
"The calls from a number of party members for me to step down or resign are normal in a democracy, and I appreciate these different opinions," he said, adding that there had been talk of his resignation, but it was an internal issue.
Akbar claimed his party was still solid and the majority of Golkar members wanted him to stay on until the legal process had been completed.
Akbar admitted that he had been found guilty by the judges but he insisted that he still had the right to chair the party as he was appealing the verdict.