Aburizal Bakrie ‘dismissed’ as Golkar leader

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Tuesday November 25 2014,


A group of Golkar Party politicians running in the party’s chairmanship election have decided to form an alliance, which they are calling the presidium to save Golkar, in order to stop current chairman Aburizal Bakrie from holding a party national congress slated to take place on Nov. 30 in Bali.

The presidium reasoned that Aburizal had substantially violated the party’s statutes, and therefore was disbarred from holding the national meeting, at which a chairmanship vote would take place.

The presidium also declared its decision to dismiss Aburizal from his post.

“We have decided to dismiss Aburizal from his chairmanship,” presidium member Agun Gunandjar said on Tuesday as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Agun explained that the presidium judged Aburizal to have violated party statutes because he had failed to act democratically during preparations for the national meeting.

Agung Laksono, another presidium member, said the presidium intended to discuss the party’s internal situation with the government in the hope of finding the best solution.

The country’s second-largest political party planned the Bali meeting with the sole purpose of appointing a new chairman to replace Aburizal. However, Aburizal has repeatedly hinted that he wanted to enter the competition, expressing confidence that he could win a second term.

Certain Golkar politicians, meanwhile, suspect that opportunities for graft were the main driving force behind Aburizal’s intention to be reelected as chairman. Others fear that if Aburizal were to continue as chairman, Golkar would have little hope of joining President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s ruling Great Indonesia Coalition, as is the aspiration of many Golkar cadres, especially among the younger generation



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