Golkar Calls The United Indonesia Coalition Formation Is To Avoid National Divide

Meutya Hafid/Photo: VOI

JAKARTA - Meutya Hafid, Head of the MPO (Media and Opinion Gathering) Division of the Golkar Party stated that the formation of the United Indonesia Coalition (KIB) by the Golkar Party, PAN, and PPP was to avoid divisions that might occur in Indonesian society in the 2024 presidential election.

This was revealed by the Chairman of Commission I of the DPR RI, responding to comments from various parties regarding the coalition. According to Meutya, division among the nation's children is possible if only two presidential candidates appear in the presidential election later.

KIB can already be said to have pocketed tickets to nominate the president because the seats held by these three parties have exceeded the presidential threshold. Golkar with 12.31 percent of the seats, PAN with 6.84 percent of the seats, and PPP with 4.53 percent of the seats. The total seats owned by KIB are 23.67 percent, far above the presidential threshold of 20 percent of DPR seats.

"This shows that KIB has been able to carry the presidential and vice-presidential pairs themselves," said Meutya to the media, Tuesday (31/5/2022).

However, until now, KIB has not determined who the presidential candidate will be, even though each member of the coalition may already have a candidate who is internally championed. Including Golkar, which is in accordance with the mandate of the National Conference and Rapimnas, will carry the General Chairperson of the Golkar Party, Airlangga Hartarto, as a presidential candidate in 2024 presidential election.

"KIB is also still opening the door wide for the entry of new coalition members from any party that has the same goals, platforms, and ideas," said Meutya.

In relation to these other parties, Golkar continues to maintain an attitude of respecting each other's decisions and choices. Not only fellow members of KIB or other parties who are members of the coalition supporting President Joko Widodo's government, but also coalition parties.

Meutya said Golkar always maintains friendly and respectful relations with all parties in the country. Golkar also does not intervene with other parties and does not expect any intervention from other parties to Golkar.

According to him, Golkar is currently in a very solid position to support Airlangga Hartarto's candidacy as a presidential candidate. Golkar's internal conditions also have no divisions, in fact, these issues have been denied by all parties in Golkar.

The comments from the Deputy Chairperson of the Advisory Council of the Gerindra Party Desmon Mahesa, stating that Airlangga was lucky to escape the Munaslub, is an unfounded statement and must be corrected given the strong solidity that exists in Golkar at this time.

"In smart and healthy politics, Golkar expects each party to show mutual respect, without having to give negative statements to other parties," added Meutya.

Like the initial purpose of the establishment of KIB, it is hoped that good relations that respect each other will become a bond of unity and not a source of division.