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Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie suggested on Sunday that when it came to politics, it was best for party members to think like rats.

Speaking to Golkar cadres who had flown in from at least three provinces to Jakarta to discuss strategies to win 30 percent of the vote in the 2014 legislative elections, Aburizal said he wanted Indonesians to see Golkar as the only party worth voting for.

“We are hardworking politicians and we play with certain tactics,” he said. “Golkar has to have the principles of a rat. Be like the rat who bites someone’s leg, without letting the person know that he has been bitten by us. A rat always bites with certain tactics, and technique,” Bakrie said at Sunday’s coordination briefing for Golkar members from West Nusa Tenggara, East Nusa Tenggara, and Bali, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Jakarta.

“The rat bites a little, and carefully, and then waits. After he [the rat] feels it is [the first bite] enough, then he goes back to biting just a bit again. The person who is bit never feels it. In politics, when we attack, we must not be careless and in a hurry, or our opponents will know and attack us back. ”

Aburizal urged his party’s members to actively involve themselves in pushing forward the good name of the party.

“This requires the involvement of cadres from all levels,” he said, adding that he would not deny that such campaigning efforts would force Golkar cadres to be more critical, particularly toward the performances of other political parties on the national and district levels.

“But, there is always a good way to bite without hurting the bitten,” Aburizal said. He added that Golkar was open to any and all groups who wanted to join it, including the Reform Star Party (PBR) and the Indonesian Muslim Brotherhood (Parmusi). However, Aburizal said that Golkar would never force any organization to fall into ranks.

“Please remember that they [PBR and Parmusi] contacted us. We did not reach out to them,” he said.

Democratic Party lawmaker Ramadhan Pohan said Golkar was free to campaign as it liked as long as it did not break the law. The government, Ramadhan said, would not be close-minded to criticism, even if it came from within President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s ruling coalition.

“The government after all does need to be monitored,” Ramadhan said, adding that Golkar should also remember that no party was allowed to use state funds to attract voters.

“We do not want to hear any Golkar cadre, like those sitting as ministers, claiming the ministry’s programs as the party’s own,” Ramadhan said.

“They will be given the opportunity to bring on their maneuverings, but we shall only see the results in the political arena.”