Waiting For The Appearance Of The Director Behind The Coup Against Airlangga Hartarto

Workers pass in front of the Airlangga Hartarto poster at the Golkar Party DPP Office, Jakarta, Sunday (11/8/2024). (ANTARA/Hafidz Mubarak A./nym)

"By saying Bismillahirrahmanirrahim, as well as on the instructions of God Almighty, I hereby declare my resignation as chairman of the Golkar Party DPP," said Airlangga Hartarto in an official video of the Golkar Party.

The news of Airlangga's resignation quickly reached the ears of the public. Most were surprised by the decision. Moreover, this announcement came when Golkar was hit by an issue of holding an Extraordinary National Conference (Munaslub) to replace the general chairman.

Airlangga's resignation shocked the world of politics in the country. Various assumptions were issued about what was behind this 1962-born man choosing to resign as the chairman of Golkar.

Airlangga Hartarto did not openly reveal his reason for resigning. However, Golkar Party Deputy Chairman Ahmad Doli Kurniaspilled a number of reasons.

Maintaining solidity within Golkar is an excuse made by Doli. He said this was done as part of trying to create a conducive situation during the future transition of the government.

According to Doli, Airlangga needs more concentration in President Joko Widodo's cabinet as Coordinating Minister for the Economy. He said Airlangga needed a cabinet to deliver the transition period of government to the leadership of the elected president Prabowo Subianto in the future.

"Because there are so many programs prepared as advanced programs to maintain the continuity of the vision and mission of the two-period Jokowi-Mar 'Ruf Amin program and then in the future Pak Prabowo and Pak Gibran," he said.

But what Doli explained did not satisfy the public's wish. Some observers say this was done because of the pressure of the authorities.

Politician and cultural observer Soegeng Rahardjo Djarot said that Airlangga Hartarto's resignation could be called a Golkar coup. He suspects that there are efforts from someone who wants to become the chairman of the Golkar Party without following the party's articles of association and household (AD/ART) so that they use other methods.

"I think if there is a Golkar coup, yes, if there is a term like that, it doesn't feel wrong either," said the man who is better known as Eros Djarot, quoted by Antara.

Doli's reason that Airlangga needs to focus more on the government, according to Eros Djarot, makes no sense.

Golkar is a seasoned party whose actions in the world of politics in the country are unquestionable. Since its establishment in 1964, even though his status was not yet a political party, Golkar has almost always dominated every election.

Golkar's superiority was increasingly seen in the New Order when Indonesia was led by President Suharto. The proof is that in the 1977 to 1997 elections, the results of the Indonesian elections were always dominated by Golkar.

When the multiparty system was implemented again after the reform, the superiority of the Golkar Party began to decline. From the past five elections, the Golkar Party only got the most votes once, namely in the 2004 election with a total vote of 21.57 percent.

However, Golkar improved the vote acquisition in the 2024 General Election. The surge in the vote acquisition of the Golkar Party was in the spotlight because it managed to occupy the second position in the recapitulation of the results of the 2024 General Election.

In the General Elections Commission (KPU) recapitulation, the Golkar Party received 15.29 percent of the votes with 23,208,654. This figure is also the highest in the last four elections.

Still behind the PDI-P, but the party bearing the banyan symbol controls 14 provinces, while PDIP only has 12 provinces. This achievement increased compared to third place in the 2019 Legislative Election with 12.15 percent of the votes and controlled eight provinces.

One of the reasons for the surge in Golkar votes in the 2024 General Election is thanks to Airlangga's expertise, as stated by the Executive Director of the Trias of Strategic Politics Agung Baskoro. He said there was a factor in Airlangga's greatness in managing his responsibility as Coordinating Minister for the Economy by directly providing social assistance to capital subsidies for MSMEs/PKL.

The same thing was also said by Adi Prayitno, a political analyst from UIN Syarif Hidayatullah. According to Adi, Airlangga's success in conducting strong consolidation within Golkar is the key.

If Golkar's success in the 2024 election, one of them is thanks to Airlangga Hartarto's performance, why did he prefer to resign? Moreover, coincidentally, rumors related to the Munaslub also continued to emerge.

The allegation of pressure from certain parties should not be ruled out. Shortly after Airlangga's resignation, a poster of Gibran Rakabuming Raka appeared, the elected vice president and President Jokowi's eldest son, became the chairman of the Golkar Party's DPP.

Until now, Airlangga Hartarto's resignation as chairman of the Golkar Party so far has only left a question mark in the community. Are the coup rumors like those spoken by Eros Djarot true?