ID :
57121
Thu, 04/23/2009 - 19:55
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LAKSONO : GOLKAR YET TO CONSIDER BECOMING OPPOSITION PARTY
Jakarta, April 23 (ANTARA) - Golkar Party Vice Chairman Agung Laksono said his party had not yet reached the stage where it was considering to become an opposition party but there was a chance it would.
"Not yet. But he (Jusuf Kalla, the party's chairman) said if we have to become an opposition, we have to be ready," Laksono said in response to a press question at the Parliament Building here on Thursday.
Laksono, who is currently speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) made the statement in response to a question whether his party was ready to join the opposition against the government.
He said the Golkar special national leadership meeting was still going on and had not yet made a final decision.
The meeting still listened to reports and views of the party's regional chapters, he said.
Some of the regional party's views called on Golkar to coalesce with other parties but the Democratic Party, Laksono said.
"But it's just a proposal, and there are still some options," he said.
Golkar Chairman Jusuf Kalla, currently vice president, said earlier that Golkar must get used to the idea of becoming an opposition party.
"Becoming a ruling or opposition party, both courses are equally respectable. We are not used to being in the opposition but now we have accustom ourselves to the idea," Kalla said when opening a Golkar special national leadership meeting here on Thursday.
Kalla said that Golkar so far basically had never opposed the government.
"The fact that there was criticism in the parliament is actually needed because without criticism the government could become a dictator," he said.
Based on the results of temporary vote counts on the April 9 legislative elections at the National Tabulation Center, the Golkar Party finished a distant second, or about 14 percent of the vote, from the Demoractic Party which grabbed about 20 percent.
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"Not yet. But he (Jusuf Kalla, the party's chairman) said if we have to become an opposition, we have to be ready," Laksono said in response to a press question at the Parliament Building here on Thursday.
Laksono, who is currently speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) made the statement in response to a question whether his party was ready to join the opposition against the government.
He said the Golkar special national leadership meeting was still going on and had not yet made a final decision.
The meeting still listened to reports and views of the party's regional chapters, he said.
Some of the regional party's views called on Golkar to coalesce with other parties but the Democratic Party, Laksono said.
"But it's just a proposal, and there are still some options," he said.
Golkar Chairman Jusuf Kalla, currently vice president, said earlier that Golkar must get used to the idea of becoming an opposition party.
"Becoming a ruling or opposition party, both courses are equally respectable. We are not used to being in the opposition but now we have accustom ourselves to the idea," Kalla said when opening a Golkar special national leadership meeting here on Thursday.
Kalla said that Golkar so far basically had never opposed the government.
"The fact that there was criticism in the parliament is actually needed because without criticism the government could become a dictator," he said.
Based on the results of temporary vote counts on the April 9 legislative elections at the National Tabulation Center, the Golkar Party finished a distant second, or about 14 percent of the vote, from the Demoractic Party which grabbed about 20 percent.
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