The 'Prince' of Cikeas

SUSILO Bambang Yudhoyono was entertaining visitors on the porch of his house at Cikeas, Bogor. They sat around him, eagerly listening to the chairman of the Democrat Party. There were Zulkifli Hasan, chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN) and Democrat Party officials, such as Secretary-General Hinca Panjaitan, High Council member Sjarifuddin Hasan and Deputy Chairman Roy Suryo. On Wednesday night last week, the former president invited party leaders of the Kinship Coalition to his home.

This coalition consists of six parties that do not support incumbent Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama (Ahok) and his running mate Djarot Saiful Hidayat in the upcoming governor's election. The coalition members comprise the Democrat Party, the United Development Party (PPP), the National Awakening Party (PKB), PAN, the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and the Prosperity and Justice Party (PKS). The meeting was scheduled to begin at 7:00pm, but only Zulkifli Hasan had arrived by 9:00pm. PKB Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar and PPP Chairman Romahurmuziy arrived later. Gerindra and PKS representatives ended up not attending the meeting at Cikeas at all; they, it turned out, were forming a separate alliance.