INDONESIA: Popular leaders, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, have gone campaigning for their parties ahead of this week's parliamentary elections

Record ID: 345209

  • Title: INDONESIA: Popular leaders, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, have gone campaigning for their parties ahead of this week's parliamentary elections
  • Date: 8th April 2009
  • Summary: MEGAWATI ADDRESSING CROWD MEGAWATI GIVING SPEECH IN FRONT OF SUPPORTERS (SOUNDBITE) (Bahasa Indonesia) PDI-P SUPPORTER, DEDE RAHMAN SAYING: "We support Megawati with her programs, first for cheap staple needs, second greater jobs and lastly, people's welfare." JAKARTA, INDONESIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) WIRANTO ARRIVING FLAGS OF 'HANURA PARTY' BANNER WITH WIRANTO PHOTOGRAPH WIRANTO THROWING SOUVENIRS TO THE CROWD CROWD WAITING FOR SOUVENIRS AUDIENCE WATCHING BAND ON STAGE SUNNY TANUWIDJAYA, POLITICAL ANALYST FROM CSIS (SOUNDBITE) (English) TANUWIDJAYA SAYING: "Wiranto think about long term. He is trying to build his party slowly. So I think we have to look at Hanura not for this election but for 2014. This election for him is just for a test case, a learning experience." YOGYAKARTA, YOGYAKARTA PROVINCE, INDONESIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) AUDIENCE AT PRABOWO SUBIANTO'S GERINDRA PARTY RALLY PRABOWO SUBIANTO TALKING ON STAGE PRABOWO SUBIANTO GIVING OUT HIS HAT TO AUDIENCE FLAGS OF 'GERINDRA PARTY'
  • Embargoed: 23rd April 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Indonesia
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA5B1GTFW1JCE868VV7IPOHQPT2
  • Story Text: Popular Indonesian leaders, including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and two generals from the Suharto-era, have hit the campaign trail for their parties ahead of parliamentary elections this Thursday (April 9).
    All three have their eye on the presidential elections on July 8, but have spent the past three weeks traversing the archipelago of 17,000 islands to rustle votes for their candidates.
    Some 12,000 candidates are running for nearly 700 seats in the national parliament and provincial elections this week.
    Yudhoyono, who took office after the first-ever direct presidential elections in 2004, campaigned in Aceh, north Sumatra, for his Democrat Party.
    Aceh used to be a restive province as local rebels demanded independence but a deal after the 2004 tsunami brought peace and six local parties will contest the polls.
    The Democrat Party only won 7.5 percent of the vote in the 2004 legislative elections but is expected to fare better with Yudhoyono still popular among the country's population of 230 million. The president enjoys a 50 percent approval rating, which is way ahead of his other rivals, as seen by the rapturous welcome he received during the Aceh campaign.
    A potential presidential rival is his vice-president Jusuf Kalla from the former ruling party Golkar.
    Kalla launched the parliamentary election campaign in his home province of Makassar, drawing strong crowds for Golkar which won the 2004 elections with 21.6 percent of the vote to dominate the national parliament.
    Many Golkar supporters see Kalla as the best bet to bring the party back to its former glory.
    "He (Jusuf Kalla) is a wise leader and he will bring us and Indonesia towards progress," said Kartini Ismail, who was dressed in the party's signature yellow.
    Kalla has announced a pact with former president Megawati Sukarnoputri's Partai Demokrasi Indonesia - Perjuangan (PDI-P) for the parliamentary elections. She is seen as aloof by fellow politicians but is popular with the masses who came to hear her speak and dance to local dangdut music.
    Her supporters are hoping she will make a run for the presidency later this year.
    "We support Megawati with her programs, first for cheap staple needs, second greater jobs and lastly, people's welfare," said PDI-P supporter, Dede Rahman.
    Meanwhile, two Suharto-era ex-generals associated with human rights violations, Wiranto and Prabowo Subianto, are leading parties with an eye for future political success.
    Retired general Wiranto, a controversial figure due to rights abuses in East Timor, is leading the Hanura party, one of the 44 parties contesting the parliamentary elections.
    Hanura, which has been polling at around 7 to 11 percent support in recent opinion polls, aims to be one of the top five parties in the parliamentary elections.
    Sunny Tanuwidjaya, political analyst from Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) said Wiranto is being realistic.
    "Wiranto think about long term. He is trying to build his party slowly. So I think we have to look at Hanura not for this election but for 2014. This election for him is just for a test case, a learning experience," said Tanuwidjaya.
    Wiranto was indicted by a U.N. panel over the bloodshed surrounding Dili's 1999 independence vote, when about 1,000 East Timorese died. He has denied any wrongdoing but commission did not have any prosecution powers.
    He said that episode had been resolved and would not be a hindrance to his own political ambitions or those of his party.
    The 61-year-old stood in the last elections as a presidential candidate for the Golkar Party, the late president Suharto's political machine. He finished behind Yudhoyono Megawati.
    The former army chief resigned from Golkar after a power struggle and formed Hanura (Peoples' Conscience) party in 2006.
    The other Suharto-era general, Prabowo Subianto, was the controversial former special forces commander who was sacked in 1998 over the abduction of democracy activists.
    He launched the Greater Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) party last year on a nationalist platform and has raised his profile with a slick advertising campaign which promotes a strong Indonesia.
    The party is trailing in the polls but has done better than many expected.
    He said Indonesia should use a strategy based on agriculture to create jobs, including rehabilitating 59 million hectares of destroyed forest. He also added that Southeast Asia's biggest economy should be self-sufficient in energy, making more use of biofuels and plans to review government contracts deemed "unfair" to the national interest.
    However Tanuwidjaya said his performance could be hindered by his human rights record.
    "There are some reservation about Prabowo that everybody, well not everybody, a lot of people also know about the allegations on him. Although it is a middle class issue, when we talk about human rights violations. But you know the middle class is the one who transfers information towards a lot of voters," Tanuwidjaya explained.
    But even his human rights record might not prove an issue, some analysts have said, as many Indonesians hanker for a strongman ruler similar to former President Suharto.
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