Airlangga Hartarto Ready To Win Golkar On Sumatra Island

Airlangga Hartarto in Riau/Photo: Media Center DPP Golkar

PEKANBARU - The General Chair of the Golkar Party's DPP Airlangga Hartarto is targeting his party to dominate the vote on the island of Sumatra in the 2024 Election.

Airlangga emphasized that Riau Province was one of the ballots for the Golkar Party in every election.

According to him, the capital of the party's victory with the banyan tree symbol can be expanded to all regions on the island of Sumatra. Moreover, Riau Province is also led by the governor who is also the chairman of the DPD of the Riau Golkar party, Syamsuar.

“In Riau, Golkar always wins, and winning capital is important. If Riau wins, I was from Lampung yesterday, we will lock it. From Riau, North Sumatra, even from Aceh, we lock. We will look to Sumatra Island for Golkar's victory," said Airlangga in front of the DPD Golkar administrators throughout Riau Province, Thursday (24/2).

Airlangga admitted that the optimism of victory in Sumatra needed to be instilled for a number of reasons. First, the General Chairman of Golkar admitted that his party was the only political party that had a management structure down to the lowest level in all regions in Indonesia.

It is not owned by other political parties in Indonesia. This lowest structure has the potential to absorb people's aspirations. Airlangga emphasized that if the aspirations of the people could be fulfilled by Golkar, victory would definitely be obtained during the upcoming 2024 general election.

"In time, we will win the presidential election, especially if we only want it twice (periods), but we must guard (aspirations) now," said Airlangga.

Airlangga, who is also the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, reminded that Golkar must prepare for victory from the start.

The chairman of Golkar emphasized that learning from past experiences, he did not want any cadres to be left behind. Airlangga recounted the 2009 Golkar National Conference in Riau which caused Golkar to split into several new political parties.

At that time, Surya Paloh lost in the race for general chairman at the 2009 National Conference. After losing, Surya Paloh and his team formed the Nasdem Party. This step was also followed by Prabowo Subianto who later formed the Gerindra Party and Wiranto with his Hanura party. Airlangga emphasized that he did not want the incident to be repeated in his leadership.

According to him, any internal Golkar conflict must be resolved by consensus.

"Not looking to win and lose, because winning and losing only during elections, not during consolidation," he said.

The chairman of Golkar reminded all cadres to remain in the party ranks.

"All cadres must not be outside, all cadres must be inside. Our target is 20 percent. But 20 percent is not enough to win the presidential election. The presidential election needs more than 50 percent. We have to work hard now, no cadres should be left behind," said Airlangga.