Golkar Party, Democrats Leave Coalition Puzzle Unsolved
Jakarta. A series of national congresses by the Golkar and Democratic Parties on Sunday did little to end speculation about the makeup of coalitions ahead of the deadline for registering presidential candidates on Tuesday, instead ensuring the drama will play out to the very last minute.
At its congress at the Jakarta Convention Center, Golkar vested in chairman and would-be presidential candidate Aburizal Bakrie the full authority to decide which coalition to join, amid growing signs that the party of the late former strongman Suharto will align with its longtime political nemesis the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, or PDI-P, whose candidate, Joko Widodo, is seen as the clear favorite to win the July 9 presidential election.
The meeting annulled the declaration from a previous congress at which it was decided that Aburizal would be Golkar's presidential candidate.
The new outcome means Aburizal is free to seek the vice presidential slot with Joko. The PDI-P is set to announce Joko's running mate today, ahead of tomorrow's registration deadline, and the overwhelming favorite for running mate is Golkar's Jusuf Kalla, the vice president during President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's first term in office.
Aburizal said at a press conference after Sunday's congress that only he would receive Golkar's full backing.
"The points agreed on during the congress are clear: only Aburizal Bakrie may run as a presidential or vice presidential candidate," he said. "If anyone wants to nominate themselves or is asked by another party [to run in the election], they cannot use the banner of the Golkar Party. They also have to leave their position in the legislature or in the Golkar Party structure."
Upon leaving the congress, Aburizal immediately headed for the home of PDI-P chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri in Menteng, Central Jakarta. Late on Sunday, Aburizal and several senior Golkar officials were still at Megawati's home, along with several senior officials from the PDI-P.
Aburizal's latest statements contradicted Joko's remarks made on Thursday when the two men met at a market in East Jakarta in a symbolic gesture of unity between Golkar and the PDI-P.
"This is pure cooperation. With Pak ARB [Aburizal], to date there has been no talks on vice presidential candidates or ministers," Joko said at the time, with Aburizal standing at his side.
Other Golkar officials, including legislator Bambang Soesatyo, previously said the party was leaning toward the PDI-P, as Golkar wanted to support its former chairman Kalla as Joko's running mate.
While not officially endorsed by his own party, Kalla is wildly popular among the public and the PDI-P's coalition partners, namely the National Democrat Party, or NasDem, and the National Awakening Party, or PKB.
Senior Golkar politician Zainal Bintang said he had heard the PDI-P had decided on Kalla as Joko's running mate during an internal meeting of the party on Saturday.
"I've cross-checked the information with J.K.'s side, and even talked with Pak J.K. himself, and gotten confirmation of the truth of the information," Zainal said in a text message to Kompas on Sunday. "According to the information, the declaration [of Kalla's vice presidential nomination] will be announced tomorrow [Monday]."
Joko, meanwhile, has more than once hinted he is amenable to having the more experienced Kalla as his running mate, although he has also indicated that others are being considered.
Political expert Ikrar Nusa Bhakti said there was little chance of the PDI-P dumping Kalla in favor of Aburizal as Joko's running mate, citing Aburizal's poor showing in a several opinion polls.
"This is not just about party coalition issues. This is about electability," Ikrar told the Jakarta Globe. "The PDI-P will not want to sacrifice Joko's electability [by pairing him with Aburizal]."
He added that having Aburizal as his running mate could potentially see Joko, the front-runner, lose to his closest rival, Prabowo Subianto of the Great Indonesia Movement Party, or Gerindra, who has already declared Hatta Rajasa of the National Mandate Party, or PAN, as his own vice presidential candidate.
"The PDI-P doesn't need Golkar's support," Ikrar added. "Golkar shouldn't make any conditions if it wants to join [the PDI-P's coalition]."
Meanwhile, less than a kilometer from where Golkar held its congress, the Democratic Party was also meeting to decide on how it would approach the election.
The party, facing the prospect of not being part of the government for the first time since its inception a decade ago, had already backtracked on its much-ballyhooed convention to pick a presidential candidate, with Yudhoyono, the party chairman, deciding that the convention winner, state enterprises minister Dahlan Iskan, just wasn't popular enough to head a ticket.
Speaking at the close of the congress, Yudhoyono said the Democrats had weighed three options — joining the PDI-P, joining Gerindra, or setting up a third coalition with Golkar — and decided that it would embark on none of those paths. "It is more respectable for the Democrats to be independent and not beg for power from other parties," Yudhoyono said. "We're not joining any bloc, whether that of Joko Widodo or Prabowo Subianto."
Prior to the two parties' congresses, officials from the Democrats and Golkar were reported to be in talks to pair Aburizal with Pramono Edhie Wibowo, Yudhoyono's brother-in-law and one of the 11 men who ran in the Democrats' convention.
But Ikrar said it was better for Golkar to go with the PDI-P rather than hitch its hopes on the struggling Democrats if it wanted to remain in government.
"Why would they tie themselves to a sinking ship?" he said. "Unless there's some other political motive behind it."
Ikrar also said Golkar was doing itself no favors by continuing to flit between the PDI-P, Gerindra and the Democrats. He suggested that Golkar immediately make up its mind, saying its maneuvering would paint it in a bad light among voters. "It doesn't need to run here and there. People are watching," he said.
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