name english	Golkar Party
name native	Partai Golongan Karya
logo
chair	Aburizal Bakrie
secgen	Idrus Marham
foundation	1964
headquarters	Jakarta
dprseats
ideology	Pancasila
international	None
website	http://www.golkar.or.id/
ballno	23
prescan	}}

The Party of the Functional Groups () is a political party in Indonesia. It is also known as Sekber Golkar (''Sekretariat Bersama Golongan Karya'', or Joint Secretariat of Functional Groups). It was the ruling party during Suharto's regime (1966–98). It was also the ruling party during Habibie's presidency (1998–99), and is part of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's ruling coalition (2004–09). In 2009, under chairmanship of Aburizal Bakrie, Golkar again rejoined the ruling coalition.

Origins

Golkar was formed on October 20, 1964 under the name Sekber Golkar. It was a federation of 97 NGOs which grew over time to 220 organizations. Although it claimed to be apolitical, Sekber Golkar was formed with the backing of senior army officers to counter the increasing influence of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Suharto and Golkar

In March 1968, General Suharto was officially elected by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) as Indonesia's second President. Because of his military background, Suharto was not affiliated to any political parties. Suharto had never expressed much interest in party politics. However, if he were to be elected for a second term as President, he needed to align himself with a political party. Originally, Suharto had shown interest in aligning with the Indonesian National Party (PNI) — the party of his predecessor, Sukarno. But in seeking to distance himself from the old regime, Suharto settled on Golkar.

Suharto then ordered his closest associate, Ali Murtopo, to transform Golkar and turn it into an electoral machine. Under Murtopo, and with Suharto's supervision, Golkar was turned from a federation of NGOs into a political party. Under Suharto, Golkar continued to portray itself as a non-ideological entity, without favoritism or political agendas. It promised to focus on "economic development" and "stability" rather than a specific ideological goal. Golkar also began identifying itself with the government, encouraging civil servants to vote for it as a sign of loyalty to the government.

Murtopo claimed that workers were part of a Functional Group, which by rights ought to be subsumed under Golkar: "thus all unions were united into a single body answerable to the state. The population was no longer there to be mobilised by political parties, rather, the people were the 'floating mass', or the 'ignorant mass', who needed firm guidance so they would not be lured into politics. In order to "Golkar-ize" the nation, Murtopo sometimes used the military and gangs of young thugs to eliminate political competition.

Golkar declared on February 4, 1970 that it would be participating in the 1971 legislative elections. Suharto's alignment with Golkar paid dividends when Golkar won 62% of the votes and an overwhelming majority in the People's Representative Council (DPR). The members of DPR also doubled as members as MPR and thus Suharto was easily re-elected to a second term as President in March 1973.

The 1971 legislative election was a success for Golkar and Suharto. Strengthened by his re-election, Suharto quickly began tightening his grip on Golkar. Control was increased in October 1973 with the impementation of a less democratic and more centralized system headed by a Chairman. In October 1978, after his re-election to a 3rd term, Suharto further consolidated his control of Golkar by being elected Chairman of the Executive Board (''Ketua Dewan Pembina''), a position whose authority supersedes even the party Chairman. From this position, Suharto had the supreme power in Golkar while leaving the day-to-day running of Golkar to the Chairman.

Aside from being dominated by Suharto, Golkar was also an organization dominated by the Army. Out of the four people that served as Golkar Chairman during the New Order, three had a military background. It was only in the last years of Suharto's rule that Harmoko, a lifelong civilian, was elected as Golkar Chairman.

Electoral dominance in the New Order

Golkar continued to dominate Indonesian politics well beyond the 1971 legislative elections. In subsequent New Order legislative elections, Golkar won 62% (1977), 64% (1982), 73% (1987), 68% (1992), and 74% (1997). Because of Golkar's dominance, the government could successfully pass its bills without any meaningful opposition, and it was able to form a Cabinet which consisted only of Golkar appointees.

After 1973, Suharto banned all political parties but for the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and the United Development Party (PPP). These two parties were nominally permitted to contest the reign of Golkar. In practice, however, Golkar permitted only a semblance of competition. The state controlled the only television station in Indonesia, and elections were "exercises in controlled aggression.". Elections were ritualized performances of "choice," in which local authorities were to obey directives about Golkar's electoral results in their area. A system of rewards, punishments, and violence meted out by thugs helped to guarantee cooperation across the archipelago, and the perpetual reelection of Golkar.

After the 1977 and 1997 legislative elections, there were claims of electoral fraud launched by the , who together with Golkar were the only legal political parties after 1973. There were also claims of Golkar members intimidating the electorate to vote for Golkar.

Organization and factions

In its original organization, Golkar had seven groups. These seven groups were first outlined in 1965 and 1967 and called Core Organizational Groups (KINO). These KINOs are the Union of Multifunctional Mutual Assistance Organizations (Kosgoro), the Indonesian Entrepreneur Workers Organization Centre (Soksi), the Mutual Assistance Families Society (MKGR), the Profession (Profesi), the Defense and Security NGOs (Ormas Hankam), the Enforcers of the Mandate of the Indonesian People (Gakari), and the Development Movement (Gerakan Pembangunan).

During the New Order Golkar was divided into three factions:

The ABRI faction: Consisted of members of the Indonesian military who under Suharto played a dominant role in political affairs. This faction was headed by the ABRI Commander and was commonly known as the A faction

The Bureaucrats (''Birokrat'') faction: Consisted of Golkar members who belonged within the Government bureaucracy. This faction was headed by the Home Affairs Minister and was commonly known as the B faction

The Groups (''Utusan Golongan'') faction: Consisted of Golkar members who were neither members of ABRI nor the bureaucracy. This faction was headed by the Golkar Chairman and was commonly known as the G faction

These three factions work closely together to gain consensus and in the case of nominating a Presidential candidate it was the heads of these three factions who went to inform the candidate (which until 1998 was Suharto) that he had just been nominated as Golkar's Presidential candidate. The three factions did not always work together however. In 1988, the ABRI faction was unable to nominate Sudharmono as Vice President. The factions disappeared along with the fall of the New Order.

After Suharto: ''Reformasi'' and beyond

With Suharto's fall from power in May 1998, Golkar quickly sought to adapt and reform itself. In July 1998, a Special National Congress was held to elect the next Chairman of Golkar. The congress were dogged by protests by both pro-Suharto and anti-Suharto groups. Suharto himself did not come to the congress. In the contest that followed, Akbar Tanjung emerged as the new Chairman of Golkar after beating Army General Edi Sudrajat. It was the first time that a Golkar Chairman was elected democratically rather than appointed by the Chairman of the Executive Board. Under Akbar, the Executive Board was abolished and replaced by an Advisory Board which had considerably less authority.

In 1999, Golkar lost it first legislative elections to Megawati Sukarnoputri's PDI-P. Golkar won 20% of the votes and was the runner-up in the legislative elections. Despite losing these elections Golkar was still able to secure the Tanjung's election as Head of DPR. October 1999 would see the MPR assemble for its General Session during which a President and a Vice President would be elected. It was widely expected that Golkar would support Jusuf Habibie in his bid for a second term as President. Before Habibie could be nominated, however, he was required to deliver an accountability speech: a report delivered by the President to the MPR at the end of his term. The MPR would not ratify the accountability speech and it was revealed that some Golkar members had voted against ratifying the speech.

Golkar would get its revenge on PDI-P in the presidential elections. Although PDI-P had won the legislative elections, Golkar joined forces with the Central Axis, a political coalition put together by MPR Chairman Amien Rais, to nominate and successfully secure the election of Abdurrahman Wahid as President. Golkar, however, was unable to stop the election of Megawati as the Vice President.

Golkar was rewarded for its support of Wahid by having its members appointed to ministerial positions in Wahid's Cabinet. Much like those who had supported Wahid, Golkar would grow disillusioned with Wahid. In April 2000, Jusuf Kalla, a Golkar member who held position as Minister of Industries and Trade was sacked from his position. When Golkar inquired as to why this was done, Wahid claimed alleged it was because of corruption. In July 2001, Golkar, along with its Central Axis allies, held an MPR Special Session to replace President Wahid with Megawati.

By 2004, the reformist sentiments that had led PDI-P to victory in the 1999 legislative elections had died down. Many Indonesians were disappointed with what Reformasi had achieved thus far and were also disillusioned with Megawati's Presidency. Such discontent enabled Golkar to emerged victorious in the 2004 legislative elections with 21% of the votes.

Unlike the other political parties who had one person as their Presidential candidate from the start, Golkar had five. In April 2004, Golkar held a national convention to decide who would become Golkar's candidate for President. These five were Akbar Tanjung, General Wiranto, Lieutenant-General Prabowo, Aburizal Bakrie, and Surya Paloh. Akbar won the first round of elections but Wiranto emerged as the winner in the second round. Wiranto chose Solahuddin Wahid as his running mate.

The Presidential Elections were held on July 5, 2004. The first round of elections was won by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla who faced Megawati and Hasyim the September 2004 run-off. Wiranto/Wahid came second and there were allegations of disunity within the party with Akbar not fully supporting Wiranto after losing the nomination.

In August 2004 Golkar formed, with PDI-P, PPP, Reform Star Party (PBR) and Prosperous Peace Party (PDS), a national coalition to back Megawati. Further infighting would hamper Golkar in its bid to back Megawati. Fahmi Idris led a group of Golkar members in defecting and threw their support behind Yudhoyono and Kalla. At the Presidential Run-Off in September 2004, Yudhoyono emerged victorious over Megawati to become Indonesia's 6th President. Jusuf Kalla, who had gone his own way back in April 2004, became Vice President.

The 2004 National Congress

Although he had overwhelmingly won the Presidency, Yudhoyono was still weak in the DPR. His own Democratic Party had only won 7% in the Legislative Elections and even combined with other parties who had aligned themselves with the new Government, they still had to contend with the Legislative muscles of Golkar and PDI-P who now intended to play the role of opposition.

With a National Congress to be held in December 2004, Yudhoyono and Kalla had originally backed Head of DPR Agung Laksono to become Golkar Chairman. When Agung was perceived to be too weak to run against Akbar, Yudhoyono and Kalla threw their weight behind Surya Paloh. Finally, when Paloh was perceived to be to weak to run against Akbar, Yudhoyono gave the green light for Kalla to run for the Golkar Chairmanship.

This was a widely controversial move. Up to that point, Yudhoyono had not let members of his administration hold a concurrent position in political parties to prevent the possible abuse of power. There was also complains by Wiranto who claimed that some months earlier, Yudhoyono had promised to support him if he runs for the Golkar Chairmanship.

On December 19, 2004, Kalla became the new Golkar Chairman with over 50% of the votes. Akbar, who had expected to win a second term as Golkar Chairman was defeated with 30% of the votes. Agung and Surya, who Yudhoyono and Kalla had backed earlier, became the Party Vice Chairman and the Chairman of the Advisory Board, respectively.

Kalla's new appointment as Chairman of Golkar significantly strengthened Yudhoyono's Government in Parliament and leaves PDI-P as the only major opposition party in the DPR.

Regional strength

In the legislative election held on April 9, 2009, support for Golkar was higher than the party's national average in the following provinces:

West Sumatra 17.1%

Riau 23.4%

Riau Islands 17.2%

South Sumatra 21.3%

Bangka-Belitung Islands 20.4%

Yogyakarta 14.8%

South Kalimantan 16.8%

East Kalimantan 18.1%

Bali 19.2%

West Nusa Tenggara 14.9%

East Nusa Tenggara 17.6%

West Sulawesi 20.5%

North Sulawesi 24.5%

Central Sulawesi 18.5%

South Sulawesi 25.1%

South East Sulawesi 14.9%

Gorontalo 30.0%

Maluku 17.1%

North Maluku 19.6%

West Papua 31.6%

Papua 19.6%

List of Golkar Chairmen

Brig. Gen. Djuhartono (1964–1969)

Maj. Gen. Suprapto Sukowati (1969–1973)

Maj. Gen. Amir Murtono (1973–1983)

Lt. Gen. Sudharmono (1983–1988)

Lt. Gen. Wahono (1988–1993)

Harmoko (1993–1998)

Akbar Tanjung (1998–2004)

Jusuf Kalla (2004–2009)

Aburizal Bakrie (2009 – present)

External links

Official site Article on the July 1998 Special National Congress Article on the politicking leading up to Kalla's election as Golkar Chairman Article on Wiranto and Solahuddin Wahid

Notes

Category:Political parties in Indonesia Category:Parties of single-party systems Category:New Order (Indonesia)

de:Golkar fr:Golkar id:Partai Golongan Karya jv:Partai Golongan Karya ms:Partai Golongan Karya nl:Golkar ja:ゴルカル no:Golkar ru:Голкар sv:Golkar

Name	Aburizal Bakrie
Occupation	Chairman of Bakrie & Brothers
Title	Golkar Party Chairman
Term	2009–present
Predecessor	Jusuf Kalla
Birth date	November 15, 1946
Birth place	Jakarta, Indonesia
Nationality	Indonesian
Profession	Businessman
Networth	US$2.5 billion (2009)
Spouse	Tatty Murnitriati
Children	Anindya Noverdian Bakrie Anindhita Anestya Bakrie Anindra Ardiansyah Bakrie
Party	Golongan Karya
Religion	Islam }}

Aburizal Bakrie (born 15 November 1946) is an Indonesian entrepreneur and politician.

Family business

Bakrie was born in Jakarta on November 15, 1946. He attended the Bandung Institute of Technology where he obtained a degree in electrical engineering in 1973. In 1972 he joined PT Bakrie & Brothers Tbk - the conglomerate founded by his father Ahmad Bakri - which had prospered during the Soeharto regime. The Bakrie Group conducts business in agriculture, real estate, trade, shipping, banking, insurance, media, manufacturing, construction, and mining. Aburizal Bakrie, the eldest of four siblings, was the chairman of the family enterprise from 1999 to 2004. The Bakrie conglomerate went into deep debt after the 1998 Asian economic crisis and survived only after a refinancing process in 2000. The refinancing allowed the Bakrie family to maintain control over the conglomerate.

Public offices

In 2004 Bakrie resigned his positions within the Bakrie companies prior to being named Chief Economic Minister of Indonesia. This appointment by a president who planned to fight corruption was viewed with some reservation. Subsequently Aburizal Bakrie has been blamed for poor economic development and business nepotism. After a reshuffling of the cabinet in 2005, he became the Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare.

Previous positions included the presidency of the ASEAN Business Forum for two consecutive terms from 1991 to 1995, and the chairmanship of the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) for two consecutive terms from 1994 to 2004. As a member of the Golkar party Bakrie competed unsuccessfully to become Golkar's candidate for the presidency in 2004; eventually General Wiranto became the party's candidate.

He was elected as the chairman of Golkar party at 2009 Golkar Party Congress at Pekanbaru, Riau, Indonesia after defeating Surya Paloh, Yuddy Chrisnandi and Hutomo Mandala Putra. In May 2010, he successfully formed and was elected the leader of a majority parliamentary coalition with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's party.

Sidoarjo mud flow

On 27 May 2006 an earthquake shook Java island. This was one of the most destructive earthquake to hit the island in modern times, leaving over 6,000 dead and 1.5 million homeless.

Two days after the earthquake a number of volcanoes reactivated, including Indonesia's infamous Semeru volcano, 300 km away. At the same time a mud volcano in the city of Sidoarjo erupted, 250 km from the epicentre.

This mud volcano had a direct impact on 40,000 residents, spewing out up to 180,000 cubic metres of hot mud each day. It was revealed that an exploration company had been drilling for gas reserves in a deep sedimentary reserve nearby and may have triggered the mud eruption.

The exploration company PT Lapindo Brantas would become the focus of global media reporting. The majority owners were the Bakrie family, agreed to meet the financial needs of the affected population. The family is listed as Indonesia's wealthiest (Forbes US$9 billion in 2007) and is considered secretive and media shy. While offering financial support, they also argued the mud eruption was a natural event.

Lapindo Brantas Inc. was formed in 1996 with the purchase of American owned Huffington Corporation's interest in the 15,000 km2 Brantas Block in East Java. The Brantas PSC (Production Sharing Contract) drilled eight exploratory wells from 1993 through to 2001, which led to the discovery of the Wunut gas field, 30 km south of Surabaya. The current area of the PSC is 3,050 km2. The Wunut field is commercial and went into production in January 1999. At the time a large number of promising shallow and deep oil/gas prospects were identified including Banjar Panji-1.

The drilling exploration began March 2006. Apart from some minor equipment breakdowns no unusual events occurred. The actual borehole was easier to drill than expected, and therefore did not require additional steel casings. The shareholders meeting on 18 May 2006 discussed the test bores. Minutes of this meeting clearly indicated that all three partners agreed to a case setting at 3580 ft

Eleven days after this meeting on 27 May the earthquake hit Jogjakarta.

''The following account is from Lapindo Brantas operations, rig staff and site manager, drilling and exploration managers:'' "The drilling rig and porta buildings on the site suddenly started shaking violently we heard soon after that a large earthquake had been recorded. 7–10 minutes after the earthquake the well experienced a loss of mud – a loss of approximately 20 bbls of drilling mud. This was controlled to standard industry practices. Over the next 5 hours two large aftershocks were felt and a major loss circulation occurred. This loss was approximately 130 bbls of drilling mud. The emergency drilling team managed the loss by pumping a loss circulating material that plugged the loss. The well no longer suffered any losses, and was static for the next 7 hours. It appeared that the loss had something to do with the tectonic activity from the earthquake. Then shocking news reached us, the earthquake had killed more than 4,000, with the death toll rising by the hour. We decided to halt further drilling due to the seismic activity from the earthquake and begun to extract the drilling bit from the well. The driller started to pull the drill string out of the hole by employing the normal method to avoid swabbing the well in. When the bit was halfway out, the well took a water kick that displaces some drilling mud out. The Blow Out Preventer (BOP) was shut in as per standard method. This kick was later killed using a standard method successfully. The well was now dead with no more pressure in the well, the BOP was open and the well was in a safe condition. We were started to continue to pull the drill string out, but found that it was differentially stuck. A preparation to fish the stuck pipe was underway when at 5am May 29 our team were alerted to a broach 150–200 meters from our drilling site. Naturally we were concerned of the situation, the broach wasn’t on our land, but we had access to experts that could advise on possible causes and importantly potential ways to halt the broach. Under normal PSC and operating requirements we reported the broach to BP MIGAS and our joint venture partners. An investigation was launched into the source of the mud and ways to stop it."

It was subsequently discovered that the broach (a mud eruption) 150–200 metres away from the drilling site was not the only location and that mud was erupting from five other locations up to a kilometre from the drilling site. Within a week of the mud eruption an article in the Jakarta Post newspaper NGO (Walhi) and JV partner (Medco) were fingering blame on Lapindo Brantas for triggering the mud eruption. It seems a letter was leaked to the Jakarta Post from Medco pointing out that they had earlier reminded Lapindo Brantas to install a steel casing to 8,500 feet, meaning that the entire well could be sealed in the event of problems. This accusation quickly became the catalyst for the widespread belief that negligent drilling was the cause of the mud eruption From this point onwards the mud spill was deemed a man-made disaster, not linked to the volcanic eruption.

See also

United Indonesia Cabinet

References

External links

Bakrie & Brothers homepage

Category:1946 births Category:Living people Category:People from Jakarta Category:Bandung Institute of Technology alumni Category:Indonesian businesspeople Category:Indonesian billionaires Category:Indonesian socialites Category:Indonesian Muslims Category:Golkar politicians

id:Aburizal Bakrie jv:Aburizal Bakrie ms:Aburizal Bakrie