Jakarta – The Golkar Party appears no closer to ending the most serious rift in its 50-year history, with two rival factions continuing to wage a battle for the leadership of Indonesia's grand old party.

The factions, one led by Aburizal Bakrie, the chairman since 2009, and the other by Agung Laksono, a longtime stalwart of Indonesia's oldest political party, were meant to meet before a party-convened tribunal this week to hash out their differences – only no one from Aburizal's camp showed up.

Agung's camp demanded that the tribunal declare the December 2014 congress in Bali that re-elected Aburizal to the chair "unconstitutional and undemocratic," and its outcome invalid.

"We attended the hearing this afternoon and we're upbeat we will win," Leo Nababan, who was elected deputy chairman at a rival congress held in Ancol, North Jakarta, just days after the Bali meeting, said after the tribunal hearing on Wednesday. "We trust the party tribunal judges will be independent and professional," he added.

'No deal'

The tribunal was called after the Central Jakarta District Court threw out a lawsuit filed by Agung's faction that sought to have the Bali congress deemed invalid.

The court ruled on Feb. 2 that the two opposing sides had not satisfactorily tried to resolve their dispute through an internal party tribunal, until which time the court had no authority to hear the lawsuit.

Aburizal's camp, which has filed its own lawsuit challenging the Ancol congress at the West Jakarta District Court, said it would not attend any hearings in the tribunal pending the outcome of its own court case.

It cited recommendations from a previous tribunal, in December, that suggested the two camps either reconcile, hold a joint national congress, or settle their dispute in court.

Aburizal's camp earlier stated that the option for reconciliation through a joint congress was out of the question now that the Central Jakarta District Court had rejected the rival bloc's lawsuit.

"There is no discussion whatsoever about a plan for a reconciliatory national congress," Aziz Syamsuddin, a deputy chairman of Aburizal's Golkar, said last week.

"And when no deal is made, surely we must refer to the court's verdict. We're not doing this [opposing reconciliation] because we feel we're on the winning side."

Another official with Aburizal's faction, Ridwan Bae, made it clear that to them, the current party tribunal was no longer relevant.

"Because this case has already entered court, it is no longer in the jurisdiction of the party tribunal. Any final decision on this matter should be contingent on the [West Jakarta court's] verdict."

Theo L. Sambuaga, a deputy chairman to Aburizal, said they were optimistic they would win their lawsuit at the West Jakarta District Court.

Bambang Soesatyo, the faction's treasurer, said it was wrong of Agung's camp to interpret the Central Jakarta court's verdict as meaning the dispute should be settled via the party tribunal.

"We call on the [Agung] camp to stop building an opinion as though the judges ordered the two sides to bring the party's conflict to the Golkar Party tribunal," he said.

"The legal route through court is already correct. Don't mess this up. Let's just be consistent: the loser must humbly accept the result and respect the winner. The winner must accommodate the loser's aspirations."

Leo, though, said he regretted the Aburizal camp's decision to ignore the ongoing tribunal process.

"We're obeying the law. What the Central Jakarta court has decided, we will do accordingly," he said. "We also want the rival camp to obey the verdict. If they want to play fair, then please appear [before the tribunal]."

During Wednesday's hearing, former justice minister Andi Matalata, one of the five members of the judging panel, questioned the validity of the Agung camp's so-called Presidium of Golkar Party Saviors, which formed the breakaway faction and organized the Ancol congress.

"I can't find any article in [Golkar's] statutes that mention anything about [the presidium]. What is your legal standing?" Andi asked.

Agung, who has long accused Aburizal of ruling the party with a heavy hand, struck up the same argument in response.

"[The presidium] was established because suspended chairman Aburizal Bakrie was leading the party autocratically, undemocratically and in breach of the party's statutes," he said.

Wednesday's hearing was presided over by veteran Golkar politician Muladi, also a former justice minister. The three other members of the panel of judges are H.A.S. Natabaya, Djasri Marin and Aulia A. Rachman.

'Impossible' situation

The conflict was triggered by last year's elections, where Golkar finished second in the overall vote count to the Indonesian Democratic party of Struggle, or PDI-P, the longtime opposition, in the April legislative poll, and failed to get a single name on a ticket in the July presidential ballot.

Agung's camp blamed Aburizal's leadership for both failures, especially his insistence that no one but he be allowed to stand as the party's presidential candidate, and his endorsement of Prabowo Subianto – when Golkar failed to get even a vice presidential nod – who eventually lost to the PDI-P's Joko Widodo.

Political expert Siti Zuhro of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) said it was unlikely that any decision handed down by the tribunal would end the internal dispute that observers are calling the worst in the history of the party, founded half a century ago.

"It is impossible now for the two camps to settle the feud internally. When this doesn't even work at the party tribunal process, there are only legal means left," Siti told CNN Indonesia.

She added Aburizal's camp was obviously confident, after their Central Jakarta win, that they would also win the case at the West Jakarta District Court.

Siti furthermore added she was skeptical that the internal rift would be mended even after the West Jakarta court's verdict. All members of Golkar seem to have been divided into the two unbridgeable factions, she said.

Echoing that view was Lucius Karus, a senior researcher with the Public Forum for Parliamentary Watch, or Formappi.

"With the current situation, it seems that there will never be an end to the conflict between the executives in Golkar," Lucius said.

He suggested that the Golkar elite meet and annul each of the leadership boards they had earlier established if they were serious about wanting to restore the party's unity.

"Only with that can the Golkar Party consolidate, especially with regional elections approaching," he said.

"This kind of dispute, if not addressed, will keep haunting Golkar in the future. And it's not a good thing for Golkar if it wants to remain a big party."

[Additional reporting by Markus Junianto Sihaloho.]

Source: http://thejakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/riven-golkar-resolution-sight/