Margareth S. Aritonang, Jakarta – In spite of a reconciliation deal signed by Aburizal Bakrie and Agung Laksono late last week, tension remained within the Golkar Party as supporters of the two leaders continue to battle over who should take control of the party at the regional level.

Supporters of the two leaders have decided to hold their own consolidation meetings to prepare themselves for the simultaneous local elections slated for Dec. 9, this year.

Supporters of Agung in Bali held a local consolidation meeting on Tuesday to discuss the preparation of Golkar's branches in the area for the simultaneous elections, a meeting that was later forcibly dispersed by the local police because there was no security clearance.

The Secretary-general of the rival Aburizal camp, Idrus Marham slammed Agung and his supporters for violating one of the terms of the peace deal by unilaterally staging the Bali consolidation meeting.

"The Ancol camp staged an event that harmed our agreement," Idrus said on the sidelines of a meeting with House of Representatives Speaker Setya Novanto, who is also a supporter of Aburizal, referring to the leadership of Agung, who was elected in a "shadow" congress in Ancol, North Jakarta, in December last year. "It is clear that they are not committed to the good will that we have shown them," he added.

After criticizing the Agung-led camp over its decision to stage the Bali meeting, Idrus revealed that his camp was planning to hold its own national leadership meeting later this month to discuss preparations for the local elections.

Members of the Agung-led camp said they were not briefed about the plan. One of the executives in Agung's camp, Yorrys Raweyai, also said that since the rival camp did not ask them to join the meeting, they would stage their own.

"We have our own programs and they do too," said Yorrys. "We set up the gathering to discuss necessary efforts to prepare for the local elections. Nothing is wrong with that".

In a peace deal brokered by Vice President Jusuf Kalla, the two camps agreed to establish a joint elections team that would allow the party to join the upcoming local elections.

The deal required the two camps to pool their efforts to ensure that Golkar could join the December elections. It also required the two camps to jointly endorse candidates who represent both camps to ensure that candidates running in the local elections would win approval from a legitimate party leadership recognized by the General Elections Commission (KPU).

Both camps have so far formed their own team of five representatives to assume positions in a joint committee that would formulate strategies for the regional elections.

The team from the Aburizal side is led by MS Hidayat, a former industry minister, while the Agung-led camp has yet to decide who will lead its representatives in the joint committee.

A political analyst from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Arya Fernandes, said that as long as the two camps failed to resolve their disagreement regarding the party leadership, efforts at collaboration would come to nought.

"Differences between the two factions on the issue are already too serious and seem to be irreconcilable," Arya told The Jakarta Post. Arya suggested that Golkar hold an extraordinary congress to end the standoff.

"Organizing an extraordinary congress to elect a new central board appears to be the best way to end the battle because Golkar's participation in the elections is still at stake," Arya said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/06/04/tension-remains-within-golkar-despite-truce.html