Golkar's leader Akbar Tanjung promised yesterday to battle Indonesia's endemic corruption and revive the economy as members of the party founded by former dictator Suharto met to choose a presidential candidate.
Just six years after Suharto resigned in disgrace, Golkar is set for victory in the April 5 parliamentary election and is now setting its sights on the July 5 presidential poll.
Tanjung, who was himself convicted and then cleared of graft, is competing against four others for the nomination. More than 500 party officials started voting at 5pm and the result was expected late yesterday evening.
Tanjung admitted that Golkar had been tainted by its association with Suharto's "New Order" regime. But corruption under President Megawati Sukarnoputri's rule was even worse, he said sporting the party's canary-yellow colors.
"I will work to create a new atmosphere that is clean from any KKN [acronym for corruption, collusion and nepotism]," Tanjung pledged.
"When we talk about corruption, people always refer to Golkar or to the government of the New Order. But is corruption now wider than before? It is more widespread."
With 91.4 million votes counted Golkar is set to become the largest parliamentary party, replacing Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
PDI-P's support has slumped below 20 percent compared with 34 percent in 1999, in a blow to Megawati's re-election hopes.
Tanjung, 58, said he "underwent trials, challenges and even humiliation" as Golkar leader, in reference to his conviction and three-year jail sentence in 2002 for misappropriating US$4 million in emergency food aid when he was a minister in 1999.
He remained free pending appeals and continued as Golkar leader and parliament speaker. The supreme court in February finally overturned his conviction.
Opinion polls show Tanjung will face a fight for the presidency, even if he secures the nomination.
Popular former general and ex-security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is far ahead of Megawati as preferred president. Tanjung is only the fourth choice according to some polls, but two of his Golkar challengers also have image problems.
Former armed forces chief Wiranto has been indicted by East Timor prosecutors for crimes against humanity during the territory's bloody breakaway from Indonesia in 1999.
Soldiers under the command of then-general Prabowo Subianto, a son-in-law of Suharto, were implicated in the torture and disappearance of dissidents in the last years of the dictator's rule.
The other contenders are tycoon Aburizal Bakrie and media magnate Surya Paloh.
Delegates opened the convention with a rousing party hymn and a pledge to safeguard the "unity and cohesion" of the world's largest archipelago.
Tanjung told them his priority would be economic recovery.
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