THE country’s second-largest party Golkar has appointed a top loyalist of President Joko Widodo as its new chief, a move members say could allow the outgoing president to retain political influence long after he leaves office in October.
Bahlil Lahadalia (pic), the newly appointed energy minister and the president’s right-hand man, was chosen as party leader yesterday at the annual congress of Golkar, the party of the late autocrat President Suharto, who ruled Indonesia for three decades until 1998.
