REMOVAL OF SBY-BOEDIONO BILLBOARDS IN BANDARLAMPUNG DIPLORED

Bandarlampung, June 29 (ANTARA) - The Soesilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Boediono (SBY-Boediono pair) campaign team in Lampung deplored the taking down of the pair's billboards at Baruna Square in Bandarlampung on Monday.

The billboards of SBY-Boediono at the Baruna Square were lowered on Monday following a camping rally of presidential aspirant Megawati Soekarnoputri at the same venue.

"If the billboards were lowered by Megawati's supporters, we deeply deplore their act because presidential candidates should respect each other and not tarnish the beauty of democracy," SBY-Boediono campaign team spokesman for Lampung Fajrun Najah Ahmad said here on Monday.

He expressed hope that the authorities, especially the Election Monitoring Committee (Panwaslu) could carry out its task fairly and report to the public if there was a violation.

"Tell the public whether there is a violation or not so that the people can make their own conclusion," Fajrun said.

But he added that the people were getting smarter and more prudent in electing their presidential candidate, and so the degrading acts against the SBY-Boediono pair would not distract the pair's supporters from voting for them.

"We believe, the more SBY-Boediono pair is put under pressure, the more solid the people will be in voting for Yudhoyono who never discredits his rivals in the election," Fajrun said.

Fafjurn said he had called on all SBY supporters and sympathizers in Lampung to continue practice clean, smart, and civilized politics.

"Do not be tempted by bad political practices which distress even the people," he said.

Meanwhile, Megawati-Prabowo success team spokesman Darwin Ruslinur said the report that SBY-Boediono's billboards had been lowered was not true.

"I was there to attend Megawati's campaign at Baruna Square but I did not see the billboards being lowered, and I also did not receive any report about it," Darwin said.

He said the Mega-Prabowo campaign team was even the one that obeyed the election rules and regulations and therefore it was unlikely that it had committed such an act.

"Just tell the authorities if the report is true," Darwin said.