Jakarta – The rift that has sheared Indonesia's oldest political party appears no closer to healing, despite a ruling by the highest court in the land on the polarizing issue of its leadership.

The Supreme Court revealed on Tuesday that it had ruled recently to recognize Aburizal Bakrie as the legitimate chairman of the Golkar Party, over a rival claim by Agung Laksono.

Aburizal was re-elected as chairman at a party congress held in Bali in early December 2014. Days later, disgruntled party members held a rival congress in Ancol, North Jakarta, where they named Agung the chairman. The two camps have since taken their respective claims to various courts, winning a mix of judgments before the matter landed before the Supreme Court.

Supandi, a spokesman for the court, said the latest ruling found in favor of an earlier verdict by the Jakarta State Administrative Court that recognized the Bali congress as Golkar's legitimate leadership selection event.

In response, Aburizal said he was grateful for the ruling and would "accommodate those who are in the other camp." "Our victory proves that we took the right steps," he said in Jakarta on Tuesday evening.

The issue, however, remains far from resolved, according officials from the Ancol camp, who claim that Aburizal's team has misinterpreted the ruling.

"The court's decision was to accept Aburizal's appeal [...] That means the final decision [on the party's leadership] is now based on a meeting in Riau at which the party agreed to hold a congress to elect Golkar's new leaders," said Yusuf W., the deputy counsel general for Agung's faction.

Supandi said separately that the Supreme Court's ruling could still be subject to a judicial review if either of the parties was unsatisfied. A judicial review constitutes the very final stage of appeal.

The split within the party, which marked its 51st anniversary on Tuesday with a low-key ceremony at the Aburizal faction-controlled Jakarta headquarters, stems from discontent over the chairman's failure to get anyone from the party into last year's presidential race, despite Golkar getting the second-highest number of votes in the legislative election.

The 2014 vote was the first in the country's history in which none of the presidential or vice presidential candidates was from Golkar.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/supreme-court-ruling-fails-bring-golkar-feuding-end/