Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – Hundreds of Golkar Party members from across the country gathered at the party's national leadership meeting in Jakarta on Monday amid concerns that the party chairman Aburizal "Ical" Bakrie may not be the best candidate to run in the 2014 presidential election.
Responding to a number of opinion polls that indicated Aburizal remained an unpopular politician, a number of party supporters have proposed that the national meeting would provide a slot to review Aburizal's nomination.
Golkar senior member Zainal Bintang said many party members were concerned about Aburizal's low electability. "The results of recent surveys must be taken seriously by the Golkar elite. The Golkar central executive board must evaluate the party's decision to nominate [Aburizal]," he said.
But Golkar's top politicians downplayed the demand, saying that Aburizal had ample time to improve his standing among other contenders for the 2014 presidential election.
"The national leadership meeting has no agenda to discuss an evaluation of [Aburizal's] presidential nomination. [The nomination] is final," Golkar secretary-general Idrus Marham said on Sunday.
The latest opinion poll released last week by the Political Weather Station (PWS), showed that only 16.35 percent of the respondents would vote for him if an election were to take place today.
Aburizal is less preferable than the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI-P) Megawati Soekarnoputri, who received 20.2 percent, and the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party chief patron Prabowo Subianto, who collected 19.3 percent. Aburizal got a lower approval rating than fellow Golkar politician and former vice president Jusuf Kalla (22.14 percent of the vote).
Despite his low popularity, Aburizal said he remained the best candidate to represent the party. "If some surveys have given me the low rating, I guess what I have to do now is work extra hard. In fact, it gives me a reason not to be arrogant," he said in his speech to party executives during the meeting on Monday.
Aburizal's low electability has led some to speculate that other politicians in the party have started working to undo his candidacy.
Some of the party's top officials have reportedly backed Kalla as the party's presidential candidate for 2014. On Monday, Aburizal made no efforts to hide his displeasure with the move.
"Pak JK can run as a presidential candidate for other political parties. And I can still assure you that Golkar's votes will still be undivided [behind me]," Aburizal said, referring to Kalla by his initials.
Aburizal's candidacy has also been dogged by the Lapindo mudflow in Sidoarjo, East Java, which displaced thousands of local residents and businesses in the region.
Recently, Aburizal also dealt with financial problems that affected some of his companies. Aburizal, however, remained confident about his chances of success.
"Unlike Bu Mega and Pak Prabowo, I've never joined any presidential race. So, as a new entrant my chances will be good and as some of the surveys show, I have trailed some of the candidates," he said.
Golkar's leadership expects that in the 2014 election it will receive at least 35 percent of the vote. The party garnered 14.45 percent of the vote in the 2009 election.
Aburizal was confident that Golkar could achieve the goal because people at the grassroots level still had high hopes on the New Order hold-over party. "I often hear people in Central Java's villages say 'it is better to join Golkar'," he said.
An analyst from the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) Burhanuddin Muhtadi said that Golkar would have an ample time until 2013 to work on Aburizal's electability.
"If there are no significant improvements by mid-2013, Golkar will have no choice but to evaluate Aburizal's presidential nomination. The party could then nominate figures outside of the party who are much more popular," he said. (riz)