July 15, 2014 edition
MEGAWATI Soekarnoputri wiped away tears of joy. On the porch of her house in South Jakarta, last week, a television station was broadcasting exit poll results on the presidential election. The chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) burst into tears when the broadcaster declared Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla were ahead of the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa ticket.
Jokowi was reported to be leading by about 5 percent. "This is a present for Mbak Mega," said PDI-P member Pramono Anung, deputy speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR).
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January 1, 1970 edition
The speech by Democrat Party Chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) at the party's national leadership meeting last May, was a signal of support for the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa ticket. "SBY said that he had approached Megawati for more than five years, but he got nowhere," said a Democrat Party politician, last week, referring to the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) head, Megawati Soekarnoputri.
The meeting was held at Hotel Sultan in Jakarta, attended by provincial-level party chiefs, legislators and central Democrat Party officials. According to this politician, Yudhoyono lamented his personal relationship with Megawati, which had been icy since the two competed in the 2004 presidential election. Various approaches had been attempted, including offering some cabinet posts to PDI-P cadres. Invitations to meet, extended through envoys and the media, never materialized.
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July 1, 2014 edition
AS soon as Indonesia's legislative election was over, presidential candidate Joko Widodo's name soared. A number of exit polls-surveys held as voters leave the polls-had this governor of Jakarta as the top choice for the presidency. However, after two months of campaigning, the mapping has changed. Prabowo Subianto is close behind Jokowi. This is because Jokowi's electability has been severely undermined by a vicious smear campaign. Who will Indonesians vote for on July 9?
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January 1, 1970 edition
AT the Amanatul Ummah Islamic Boarding School in Pacet, Mojokerto, East Java, thousands of copies of a tabloidwith a cartoon of Joko Widodo on the cover done in the style of the Tintin comicwere distributed. The name of the tabloid is Pelayan Rakyat (People's Servant). "It is free and enlightening and not misleading," said vice-presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla (JK), who received a round of applause from the students in attendance, on Monday night last week.
That night, Kalla discussed the slander being made against himself and presidential candidate Joko Widodo. Kalla felt that those attacks were being made because he and Jokowi had never wronged anyone. "We never punched anyone, never committed corruption, never violated human rights," he said. Another round of applause erupted.
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June 17, 2014 edition
TNI (Indonesian Military) Commander in Chief General Moeldoko must now face charges that the armed forces he leads have not been neutral in the campaigning of the upcoming presidential elections. From the lowest private to the top generals, they are accused of supporting either one of the candidates.
In the wake of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's 'reprimand' that there were attempts to lure senior TNI officers into being involved in politics, yet another issue has emerged: NCOs tasked with village security have been directing locals to vote for a particular candidate. There have been reports of NCOs campaigning in various areas for people to vote for 'the firm candidate', in reference to Prabowo Subianto, the retired Special Forces general.
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January 1, 1970 edition
IN the 1990s, the Kumala brothers were known as jet-set businessmen in Jakarta. Cahyadi and Haryadi Kumala were often connected to the 'Gang of Nine' mafia, which controlled gambling, prostitution and drugs in the capital. The two own the Millenium discotheque on the fifth floor of Gajah Mada Plaza in Central Jakarta, which is still open today.
Yorrys Raweyai, a former chairman of the Pemuda Pancasila organization, said to be a 'commander' of the Gang on Nine, laughed when asked about this business group. "There is no gang. I am friends with Cahyadi, Haryadi, and their older brothers," said Yorrys last week, who today is a legislator from the Golkar Party.
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January 1, 1970 edition