Nominees work the crowd ahead of polls

Abdul Khalik , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Wed, 05/21/2008 10:44 AM | National

Some presidential candidates seized the momentum from National Awakening Day on Tuesday to raise their "selling price" with the public ahead of next year's elections.

Former Jakarta governor Sutiyoso and former Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tanjung spent hours at a gathering hosted by former president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid, who has been nominated for president by the National Awakening Party (PKB).

Thousands of people, including influential Nahdlatul Ulama clerics and PKB supporters, attended the gathering outside Gus Dur's house in Ciganjur, South Jakarta.

As usual, Gus Dur's speech drew laughter from his audience, which included Golkar politician Yuddhi Chrisnandi, economist and former minister Rizal Ramli, senior politician Siswono Yudohusodo and students from several Jakarta universities.

"I thank all my guests. I can only mention a few names. Pak Sutiyoso, do you still feel like an active official?" Gus Dur asked the former governor, to the amusement of the audience.

Gus Dur paused his speech when an official whispered that Akbar had just arrived.

"Thank you Pak Akbar for coming. Some time ago in Kartika Chandra Hotel (in Central Jakarta), Pak Akbar invited me and Pak Habibie (former president B.J. Habibie). I asked them if they felt good about each other. They said they respected each other. Isn't it good if we are good to each other?" he said, earning the applause of the crowd.

Akbar responded with a smile.

Sutiyoso, who spoke after Gus Dur, praised the former president for transforming Indonesia into a more democratic country.

"We can't imagine what Indonesia would have been like if we hadn't had Gus Dur," said Sutiyoso, who needs support from a major party to make a realistic bid for the presidency.

Gus Dur smiled from his wheelchair at Sutiyoso's compliment.

Akbar lauded Gus Dur as a leader who always defended minority groups.

The PKB is the country's third-largest party after the Golkar Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), having won 11.9 million votes or 11 percent of the total in the 2004 election. The party is embroiled in an internal rift, which may cost it its participation in the 2009 elections.

All Gus Dur had to say on the topic of National Awakening Day was: "For me, national awakening means we can feed our nation, that none of them may live in hunger anymore."

This time, the audience's applause was even greater.

To mark the 100th anniversary of National Awakening Day, members of Golkar-affiliated group, Kosgoro 1957, launched a book on the history of the national day. The book also contains pieces by 19 national figures, including former Indonesian Military chief Gen. (ret) Wiranto, former cabinet minister Siswono Yudohusodo and Muslim scholar Azyumardi Azra.

"We aim to remind people about the spirit of Budi Utomo, Indonesia's first organization, and raise their spirits for developing the country," said Leo Nababan, who coordinated the book project.(trw)

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |