TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Golkar Party deputy chair Agung Laksono said retired four-star general Wiranto was not on the list of the party’s vice presidential candidates. “Things have happened differently from the plans, because he is now also a presidential hopeful. If he becomes a vice presidential candidate, it means he will be degraded,” Agung said at the Jakarta Convention Centre on Wednesday, April 23, 2014.
The Golkar Party has made it final that its chair, Aburizal Bakrie alias Ical, will run for president on the party’s ticket. The party is now in search of Ical’s running mate and Wiranto, a former commander of the Armed Forces of Javanese-descent, has been rumored to be a good fit for the position.
Agung said the scrapped nomination of Wiranto as Ical’s running mate did not necessarily annul the chance of a possible coalition between the People’s Conscience Party (Hanura) and the Golkar Party. He said both parties were still in talks on this matter and there had been no official statement about it.
Aside from Wiranto, he added, East Java Governor Soekarwo had also turned down the party’s offer as Ical’s running mate. “There are still plenty of Javanese out there,” Agung said.
Agung opined the party would need to nominate a vice presidential candidate that could bolster Ical’s relatively-low electability. Based on this thought, he added, the party had decided that it would seek a candidate of Javanese-descent with a robust mass base.
FRANSISCO ROSARIANS
