Jakarta. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has filed a two-day leave request to enable him to campaign for the Democratic Party and support his son Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono’s bid for regional office.
“[Yudhoyono] has submitted leave for two days,” State Palace spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said, as quoted by Indonesian news portal Tribunnews.com.
Jakarta. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was relaxed as he joked with senior editors on Monday evening at the Bank Mega office. The event was arranged by Bank Mega founder and owner Chairul Tanjung as part of a series of meetings between the press and leading politicians and potential presidential candidates.
As expected, the room was packed, with editors representing all the major media outlets present. Yudhoyono made some opening comments and took questions for the 90-minute session, which covered a broad spectrum of issues.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono hoped that the quality of national politics and democracy will continue to improve along with improving awareness of all parties and reform processes.
"Let us make our politics and democracy more mature, civilized and qualitative," he in his twitter account @SBYudhoyono monitored by Antara here on Wednesday.
The Democratic Party (PD) has opened possibility for its founder and chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhono to be one of the party’s campaigners to boost electability in the April 9 legislative election.
Deputy chairman of the party’s faction at the House of Representatives, Ferrari Romawi, said on Tuesday that the party would have to work around Yudhoyono’s schedule as president
“It is very possible [Yudhoyono will be a campaigner], but it depends on his tight schedule,” he said as quoted by kompas.com.
The Democratic Party's (PD) ongoing convention, to select the party’s presidential candidate, will pause— March 16 to April 5 — so the party can concentrate on the legislative election, a committee member says.
“We are concentrating on the legislative election,” the convention committee secretary, Suaidi Marasabessy, said as reported by kompas.com on Tuesday.
Suaidi added that so far the debates had been held in Medan, Palembang, Bandung, Denpasar, Surabaya, Balikpapan, Bogor and Makassar. The ninth city was Ambon, which hosted the debate at the Islamic Center on Tuesday.
National deputy coordinator of the People's Voter Education Network (JPPR) Masykuruddin Hafidz urged all Indonesian citizens who are eligible to exercise their right to vote and not become golput or abstainers in the 2014 elections.
He said that abstaining was the same as throwing away the people’s money.
"The state has spent trillions to prepare for the legislative elections. Not exercising your right is the same as wasting that money, which came from taxpayers,” said Masykur in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Despite a moratorium on campaign ads, Election Supervisory Committee (Bawaslu) commissioner Nelson Simanjuntak admitted that his committee was powerless to halt the slew of campaign ads appearing in both electronic and print media due to the absence of a clear-cut legal regulation restricting them.
“The moratorium should have been adhered to by the parties in line with their moral basis,” he said on Monday as quoted by tempo.co.
Nelson said reports of violations would always be bogged down in the police over arguments regarding whether ads actually constituted a violation.
Rhoma Irama, the possible presidential candidate of the National Awakening Party (PKB), said he had been forced by his supporters to join the race for the presidency.
Rhoma claimed he could do little to turn down the demand, which he said had been voiced by many since 2004.
“I told them there are more people who were more competent than me, but they said that in a direct election, what was needed was not only capability but also popularity and electability. They’re convinced I have both,” Rhoma said as quoted by tribunnews.com.
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The 2014 general election in Bali Province would be prone to conflict, particularly during an open campaign with a large number of mass. The past experience during Bali Governor election on May 15, 2013, is the example.
"Mass mobilization in legislative election is a serious threat to Bali security," said Bali National and Political Unity Agency (Kesbangpol) head I Gede Putu Jaya Suartama yesterday.
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Judicial Commission cooperates with the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) and Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Center (PPATK) in the selection process for supreme court justice candidates. "We have signed an MoU with them," said Imam Anshori Soleh, spokesman for the Judicial Commission, on Monday.
Imam said the KPK and PPATK work in the administrative stage. Both agencies will check the wealth or suspicious flow of money from the candidates. "The data we ask to the candidates is from KPK. It’s like an opinion," he said.
Golkar politician Indra Jaya Pilian said on Sunday that there was no possibility that Golkar chairman Aburizal Bakrie would run as a vice presidential candidate in the 2014 presidential election.
“Our stance is clear, ARB [Aburizal Bakrie] will be a presidential candidate and under no circumstances will he run for VP,” said Indra during a discussion called Who is The Dark Horse 2014, as quoted byAntara.
He admitted that the clear position meant his party was ready to face any outcome in the upcoming election.
“The worst scenario would be to lose,” he said.
The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the Golkar Party would win the most votes in the April 9 legislative election, a recent survey showed.
PDI-P and Golkar have garnered 16.4 percent and 15 percent of the vote, respectively, according to a recent voter survey held by Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC).
“The two parties are closely matched, taking into account the survey has a 2.6 percent margin of error” SMRC director, Djayadi Hanan, said as quoted by tempo.co on Sunday.
Political parties must nominate qualified candidates for the legislative election to avoid voter apathy in Indonesia, a lawmaker has said.
Hidayat Nurwahid, the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party lawmaker, said legislative candidates must be tested thoroughly and should have a track record that indicates they have the capacity to represent the Indonesian people in both the legislative and executive bodies.
“If parties offer the public a variety of qualified candidates, people will be more inclined to cast their votes,” he said on Sunday afternoon.
With the April 9 legislative election rapidly approaching, a recently conducted survey has revealed that many people are still unaware of the election.
“As many as 48.23 percent of our respondents knew nothing about the schedule of the upcoming legislative election,” Cirus Surveyors Group research director Kadek Dwita Apriani said on Saturday.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has decided to extend the detention of former Democratic Party (PD) chairman and graft suspect Anas Urbaningrum until election day on April 9.
Anas has been detained by the KPK since Jan. 10 this year, after being named as a suspect for his alleged involvement in the high-profile graft scandal surrounding the Hambalang sports complex project.
“Anas’ detention has been extended by 30 days,” KPK spokesperson Johan Budi said on Friday.
The Crescent Star Party (PBB) is targeting to garner at least 8 million votes in the upcoming legislative election, a party official has said.
“The target is aimed at achieving the electoral threshold and/or saving the party to ensure its existence,” said PBB chairman MS Kaban in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan, on Thursday as quoted by Antara.
The Golkar Party insisted on running its TV political commercials despite a moratorium banning political adverts before the scheduled period.
Deputy secretary- general Tantowi Yahya said the party had no reason to challenge the moratorium. He said the commercials for the party’s presidential candidate Aburizal Bakrie and the party itself had continued to be screened because neither the party or the TV stations had accepted the official copy of the moratorium.
“We just know about the moratorium through media coverage,” Tantowi said on Thursday as quoted by Kompas.com.
The General Elections Commission (KPU) has said that it aims to distribute ballots to all regional elections commission (KPUD) offices across the country by March 20 although the ballot printing process is only 78 percent complete.
“By March 20, the ballots should be completely distributed,” KPU commissioner Sigit Pamungkas told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
Jakarta. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s ailing Democratic Party is targeting 15 percent of the seats in the House of Representatives after next month’s legislative elections, the party’s managing chairman said.
“We’re ready to fight,” said managing chairman Syarief Hassan. “The [party's] consolidation is already complete, so we don’t have any problems anymore.”
