Indonesia’s Party of Functional Groups (Golkar) yesterday appointed a top loyalist of Indonesian President Joko Widodo as its new leader, a move members say could enable the outgoing president to retain political influence long after he leaves office in October.
Bahlil Lahadalia, the newly appointed minister of energy and mineral resources and the president’s right-hand man, was chosen as general chairman of the nation’s second-largest party at its annual congress. Golkar was the party of late Indonesian president Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for three decades until 1998.
The hugely popular Widodo, better known as Jokowi, has served the maximum two terms allowed, and his immense political clout helped ensure former rival Prabowo Subianto won February’s presidential election by a huge margin.
Photo: Antara Foto / Asprilla Dwi Adha via Reuters
Four Golkar sources, several speaking on the sidelines of the congress on the condition of anonymity, said that Bahlil’s appointment could help Widodo to secure his legacy after Prabowo takes power.
Golkar members have said Widodo, who hails from the island of Java, has been quietly angling to shore up his power base through the party before stepping down.
Widodo’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During his speech to the congress, Bahlil said that the party must be unified, and in an apparent reference to Widodo, he gave a veiled warning to its members to stay in line.
“If we play around with the king of Java, it will be dangerous for us,” he said.
Bahlil’s appointment comes during a transition period in which Prabowo has been fast consolidating power ahead of his presidency, culminating in him securing a parliamentary majority late last week, with support from parties that had backed his election rival.
As the largest party in the parliamentary coalition, Golkar could be central to the success or failure of Prabowo’s policy agenda, giving it significant bargaining power. Prabowo’s Great Indonesia Movement Party is the second-largest in the alliance.
“When Jokowi steps down as president he won’t have a political tool anymore,” one senior Golkar member said. “How will he maintain the balance with the new administration? He must take over, but he can’t take over Golkar alone.”
“Bahlil has proven his loyalty for all these years, so Jokowi trusts Bahlil,” the Golkar member said.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS