ID :
58024
Tue, 04/28/2009 - 21:18
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Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/58024
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OBSERVERS STILL GUESSING ABOUT YUDHOYONO'S RUNNING MATE
Jakarta, April 28 (ANTARA) - Indonesian political observers are still guessing about who would be the running mate of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the presidential election next July 8.
Dr Bima Arya Sugiarto from Paramadina University and Prof Dr Maswadi Rauf from University of Indonesia said here on Tuesday that it was still very difficult to predict who would be the running mate of Yudhoyono as efforts to form a coalition remained unsettled.
Yudhoyono, the current president, has been seen as the most favored hopeful to win the election after his Democratic Party led in vote collection in the recent legislative elections, beating big parties such as Golkar and the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP).
Bima Arya said if Yudhoyono and the Democratic Party would not coalesce with Golkar the most likely candidate for his running mate would be Hidayat Nur Wahid or Tifatul Sembiring from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
Other potential figures would be Muhaimin Iskandar or Lukman Edy from the Nation Awakening Party (PKB) and Sutrisno Bachir or Hatta Radjasa from the National Mandate Party (PAN).
He said Yudhoyono had set five criteria for choosing his running mate but besides them he would also consider the track records of the candidates such as in the political, parliamentary and party fields.
"We saw Nur Wahid only has an experience in the party and parliamentary fields while Tifatul only in the party field. About Muhaimin and Lukman Edy I think they are lack of chemistry. Sutrisno Bachir also only has an experience in the party field. So according to me the most suitable one would be Hatta Radjasa because he has an experience in political, parliamentary as well as party fields," he said.
Bima said Hatta Radjasa was a politician that had had an experience in state administration as he had become a cabinet member twice. "He also has an experience as a faction chief in the House of Representatives, which would be useful with regard to dealing with strong opposition in the parliament," he said.
He said if Yudhoyono would finally decide to choose PKB leaders Muhaimin Iskandar or Lukman Edy he believed it was more for securing his administration because the two were believed not to conduct manouvering to disturb the president-vice president relationship.
Bima said in view of the current conditions he thought it would be better if Yudhoyono immediately chose its vice presidential candidate to avoid speculations or accusations currently levelled at him that he was dividing political parties.
"If the situation is ignored, the accusations would be considered true and situation would reverse against him. People will believe that someone has played the political figure cards.
He said it would not be a problem if Yudhoyono sharpened his criteria to shortlist his vice presidential candidates. "The five criteria must be squeezed and every candidate must also be aware of one criteria which is very important and which, according to me, is not mentioned by Yudhoyono but has become a concensus of the political parties namely the Javanese-non-Javanese criteria. This must be understood and candidates who are not Javanese must also be able to accept this," he said.
Maswadi Rauf meanwhile said it was still too early to discuss persons who would become Yudhoyono's running mate because talks on coalition that would support Yudhoyono had not yet finished.
"It is still too early to tell who will be the most suitable to be Yudhoyono's running mate. The question of coalition has not been settled. Many parties are still bargaining for positions in the coalition to be set up by the Democratic Party," he said.
Maswadi said in order to determine Yudhoyono's running mate politial parties that had already aired their preference to join Yudhoyono to immediately join the Democratic Party.
That way, they could jointly determine who would be the right person for accompanying Yudhoyono. "However one must not forget that it also depends upon Yudhoyono's preference. That is why it is still too early to mention names now while political parties have not yet struck a deal," he said.
When asked who would be the right person for the parties to name as Yudhoyono's running mate Maswadi said all had an equal and good opportunity.
"All figures from PKS, PKB and PAN have an equal chance from Tifatul to Hidayat Nur Wahid, Muhaimin Iskandar, Lukman Edy and Hatta Radjasa to Sutrisno Bachir. It would all depend upon Yudhoyono," he said.
However he said based upon various criteria that had been mentioned he thought candidates from PKB would be the most appropriate for consideration.
This was because PKB was the only party that had declared supporting Yudhoyono without mentioning vice presidential candidates, he said. He said if Yudhoyono considered loyalty he should choose PKB leaders such as Muhaimin or Lukman Edy.
"However it would all depend upon Yudhoyono whether he would do it or he considered other things," he said.
Dr Bima Arya Sugiarto from Paramadina University and Prof Dr Maswadi Rauf from University of Indonesia said here on Tuesday that it was still very difficult to predict who would be the running mate of Yudhoyono as efforts to form a coalition remained unsettled.
Yudhoyono, the current president, has been seen as the most favored hopeful to win the election after his Democratic Party led in vote collection in the recent legislative elections, beating big parties such as Golkar and the Indonesia Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP).
Bima Arya said if Yudhoyono and the Democratic Party would not coalesce with Golkar the most likely candidate for his running mate would be Hidayat Nur Wahid or Tifatul Sembiring from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
Other potential figures would be Muhaimin Iskandar or Lukman Edy from the Nation Awakening Party (PKB) and Sutrisno Bachir or Hatta Radjasa from the National Mandate Party (PAN).
He said Yudhoyono had set five criteria for choosing his running mate but besides them he would also consider the track records of the candidates such as in the political, parliamentary and party fields.
"We saw Nur Wahid only has an experience in the party and parliamentary fields while Tifatul only in the party field. About Muhaimin and Lukman Edy I think they are lack of chemistry. Sutrisno Bachir also only has an experience in the party field. So according to me the most suitable one would be Hatta Radjasa because he has an experience in political, parliamentary as well as party fields," he said.
Bima said Hatta Radjasa was a politician that had had an experience in state administration as he had become a cabinet member twice. "He also has an experience as a faction chief in the House of Representatives, which would be useful with regard to dealing with strong opposition in the parliament," he said.
He said if Yudhoyono would finally decide to choose PKB leaders Muhaimin Iskandar or Lukman Edy he believed it was more for securing his administration because the two were believed not to conduct manouvering to disturb the president-vice president relationship.
Bima said in view of the current conditions he thought it would be better if Yudhoyono immediately chose its vice presidential candidate to avoid speculations or accusations currently levelled at him that he was dividing political parties.
"If the situation is ignored, the accusations would be considered true and situation would reverse against him. People will believe that someone has played the political figure cards.
He said it would not be a problem if Yudhoyono sharpened his criteria to shortlist his vice presidential candidates. "The five criteria must be squeezed and every candidate must also be aware of one criteria which is very important and which, according to me, is not mentioned by Yudhoyono but has become a concensus of the political parties namely the Javanese-non-Javanese criteria. This must be understood and candidates who are not Javanese must also be able to accept this," he said.
Maswadi Rauf meanwhile said it was still too early to discuss persons who would become Yudhoyono's running mate because talks on coalition that would support Yudhoyono had not yet finished.
"It is still too early to tell who will be the most suitable to be Yudhoyono's running mate. The question of coalition has not been settled. Many parties are still bargaining for positions in the coalition to be set up by the Democratic Party," he said.
Maswadi said in order to determine Yudhoyono's running mate politial parties that had already aired their preference to join Yudhoyono to immediately join the Democratic Party.
That way, they could jointly determine who would be the right person for accompanying Yudhoyono. "However one must not forget that it also depends upon Yudhoyono's preference. That is why it is still too early to mention names now while political parties have not yet struck a deal," he said.
When asked who would be the right person for the parties to name as Yudhoyono's running mate Maswadi said all had an equal and good opportunity.
"All figures from PKS, PKB and PAN have an equal chance from Tifatul to Hidayat Nur Wahid, Muhaimin Iskandar, Lukman Edy and Hatta Radjasa to Sutrisno Bachir. It would all depend upon Yudhoyono," he said.
However he said based upon various criteria that had been mentioned he thought candidates from PKB would be the most appropriate for consideration.
This was because PKB was the only party that had declared supporting Yudhoyono without mentioning vice presidential candidates, he said. He said if Yudhoyono considered loyalty he should choose PKB leaders such as Muhaimin or Lukman Edy.
"However it would all depend upon Yudhoyono whether he would do it or he considered other things," he said.
