JakartaPost-Sept 17, 2024
Electoral rivalries have carried over into a takeover scandal at the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) resulting in the ouster of chairman Arsjad Rasjid, who supported a losing presidential candidate in February’s general election. Kadin held an extraordinary congress in Jakarta on Saturday that ended in Arsjad’s removal, before his tenure as chair was to end in 2026, and the appointment of Anindya Bakrie as the chair of the influential business lobby. Anindya is the son of senior Golkar Party politician and business mogul Aburizal Bakrie. But Arsjad has since contested the legitimacy of the congress, saying it violated Kadin’s own bylaws and that he remained the rightful chair of Kadin. “We do not recognize the extraordinary national congress on Saturday. Kadin is an independent organization and a home for businesspeople and [business] organizations. There is only one Kadin in Indonesia,” Arsjad told a press conference on Sunday. Arsjad presented written statements of support from 21 of the 35 Kadin provincial chairs. They rejected Saturday’s congress and the appointment of Anindya as the new Kadin chair. He said his camp had started an internal investigation to identify and take disciplinary action against those involved in instigating the congress. “We will also pursue legal action against those involved to maintain the integrity of the organization,” he said, without detailing what that action would be. The deputy chair of Kadin’s law and human rights division, Dhaniswara K. Harjono, said in a press release that all decisions made during the congress should be considered void, as no written notice was issued to the Kadin leadership before the congress, which also lacked a quorum. Arsjad’s camp has sent a letter to outgoing President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to complain about the Saturday congress. “The letter is still at the State Secretariat. It has not been submitted to the President. The extraordinary congress to elect Anindya was held in South Jakarta and reportedly involved representatives from 28 provincial Kadin branches and 25 associations. The groups came together to push for the meeting, with 221 associations across 15 business sector groups casting votes for Anindya. Read more at: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2024/09/17/election-rivalries-at-play-in-kadin-chairs-ouster.html.
