Jakarta – Golkar has the shakiest presidential campaign team of the three tickets, political experts said Thursday, a major factor that could severely hamper party chairman Jusuf Kalla's ambitions of winning the presidency.
"In my opinion, Golkar's presidential campaign team has the highest amount of fragmentation. Such a situation will make it difficult come election time," Ari Sujito of Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University told The Jakarta Post. "I see SBY's team as the most solid, while Megawati's is somewhere in between."
Ari was referring to Kalla's rivals – incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his running mate Boediono, and the ticket of Megawati Soekarnoputri and Prabowo Subianto.
Paramadina University's Ikhsan Ali Fauzie echoed Ari's views, adding Golkar also lacked financial backing. "SBY's team is very well managed and very experienced. Megawati's team will be heavily boosted by Prabowo's coffers," he said. A recent audit shows Prabowo's total assets amount to Rp 1.7 trillion.
An executive from Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), Maruarar Sirait, said Prabowo's financial prowess would definitely boost the party's chances, but added the outcome of the polls would not depend solely on his personal wealth.
Golkar presidential campaign team head and Industry Minister Fahmi Idris admitted his party lacked financial support, but insisted it remained solid and that "a few disappointed people" would not significantly affect Kalla's chances.
"I admit we don't have big financial support because businesspeople prefer to go for the favorite," he said, alluding to public opinions polls that have Yudhoyono as the overwhelming favorite to win.
A serious rift is forming within Golkar over the nomination of Kalla and his teaming up former military chief Gen. (ret.) Wiranto.
On Monday, Golkar's top power brokers held a potentially rebellious meeting at the house of chief welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, one of the party's elite members, in Menteng, Central Jakarta. In attendance were prominent party figures such as Agung Laksono, Priyo Budi Santoso and Akbar Tandjung.
Agung, Akbar and Aburizal had been on the list of names selected as possible running mates for Yudhoyono, before the incumbent President decided to pick Boediono, the Bank Indonesia governor.
Golkar campaign team spokesman Yuddy Chrisnandi said he suspected the meeting's agenda was to discuss bringing forward a national consultative meeting to topple Kalla as party chairman and throw a spanner in his presidential bid.
However, Agung denied the meeting was aimed at ousting Kalla as the party's chairman. He said the party's prominent figures met at Aburizal's house for a "friendly gathering between old friends".
Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Tifatul Sembiring, a member of Yudhoyono's campaign team, pledged solid backing for the incumbent President to win a second five-year term in office.
The Islamist party had initially opposed the vice presidential nomination of Boediono, questioning his religious faith and neo-liberal stance on the economy. (hdt)