Carlos Paath, Jakarta – Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has named his loyalists as new members of his Democratic Party's leadership boards, ousting the outspoken former speaker of the House of Representatives, Marzuki Alie, in the process.
Yudhoyono announced new members of the party's executive board, high assembly, advisory board and others during a national meeting of the party (Rapimnas) in Jakarta on Saturday.
The former president himself was unanimously re-elected as the party's chairman for the 2015 to 2020 period during a party congress last month in Surabaya, after taking the reins in 2013 from former chairman Anas Urbaningrum, who was facing graft allegations and has since been jailed.
Having previously retreated as the chief patron of the party he founded in early 2000s, Yudhoyono has been forced to take the helm again as a string of graft scandals involving senior party officials – including Anas – put the party in a leadership crisis, while damaging its reputation and costing votes in last year's legislative elections.
The Democrats only finished fourth last year, after taking the top place in 2009.
Yudhoyono appointed his loyalists across the party's leadership boards, including senior party figure and former state administrative minister E. E. Mangindaan as his deputy in the party's high assembly, as well as the party's chief patron.
Yudhoyono is the head of the assembly, the highest decision-making body in the party that was formed halfway through Anas' reign.
In the executive board, which Yudhoyono also chairs, he appointed six deputies, including former cooperatives minister Syarief Hasan, former sports minister Roy Suryo and the head of the Democrats' faction at the House of Representatives, Nurhayati Ali Assegaf.
Lawyer Hinca Pandjaitan has been named the party's secretary general, a post previously held by the former president's youngest son, Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono.
Edhie has been appointed the head of the Democrats' election campaign commission, with a former commissioner at the General Elections Commission (KPU), Andi Nurpati, as his deputy.
Time to say goodbye?
Meanwhile, Marzuki, a senior politician of the party, has been ousted from the new boards. The former speaker of the House said he had not even been invited to Saturday's meeting.
"I didn't attend [the Rapimnas] because I hadn't been invited... It's pity that I wasn't event told," Marzuki said. He added it might be time for him to say goodbye to the Democratic Party.
"By not including me anywhere in the [leadership] structure, the party has given me no room to continue to serve at the party. It's not because I don't want to, but it's SBY who has decided on those who are no longer needed at the Democratic Party," said Marzuki, who last served as the deputy head of the party's high assembly.
Party spokesman Ruhut Sitompul declined to explain why Marzuki was ousted. "Basically we care about our members. But they must be disciplined, polite and ethical," he said when questioned by journalists. Marzuki had been previously quoted as saying he hoped the party would have a new chairman, not Yudhoyono again, prior to the May congress.
'Intact and solid'
Meanwhile, in his address during the Saturday meeting, Yudhoyono said the party's solidity was vital for preparations ahead of elections of regional heads, hundreds of which will be held across Indonesia in December.
He said among the party's strong points was that it was not being afflicted by leadership crises, which have torn apart two of the country's oldest political parties, the Golkar Party and the United Development Party (PPP), and are currently threatening their eligibility to participate in the regional head elections.
"We don't have any problems concerning our legality, unlike [that arising from] dual leaderships in central executive boards [in other parties]," Yudhoyono said. "We must be thankful that we stay intact and solid; there should be not much problems in dealing with the regional elections later."
He also said that the Democrats should not use dirty tactics to divide and destroy other parties. "[There should not be attempts] to destroy the strength of other political parties using power, legal maneuvers, defamation, character assassinations and other bad ways," the former president said.
"Let's do good politics. With good intentions and by doing good politics, God willing we will have good outcomes," he added.
Yudhoyono may be referring to the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which has been accused of breaking Golkar and PPP apart in an alleged attempt to weaken the opposition bloc.