Tifatul Sembiring: Golkar-PKS will be a big Political Power

President of Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS) Tifatul Sembiring said on thursday, February 26, 2009 that cooperation between two large parties Golkar and PKS can form a large and powerful political force. His statement was made after the Chairman of Golkar Jusuf Kalla visited PKS Headquarters in Jakarta last night. During the meeting of the two parties, Jusuf Kalla was paired with former Chairman of PKS Hidayat Nur Wahid as running mates for the coming Presidential Election on July 9, 2009.

Tifatul Sembiring said that so far in the Indonesian political environment there were only two blocks of political force, namely S-Block (referring to Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) and M-Block (Megawati Sukarnoputri). With the new possible coalition between Golkar and PKS, there will be a new Block of political power that will compete with two others.

Acording to Tifatul Sembiring, Mr. Hidayat Nur Wahid so far is still the PKS candidate for the coming Presidential Election, however, a new cooperation is still open for negotiation between the two parties.

In the meantime, Jusuf Kalla said the his visit to PKS HQ is part of the probing for cooperation between Golkar and other parties. We are conducting a "fit-and-proper test".

In another development, Abdurrahman Wahid, Chairman of Nahdatul Ulama (NU) Supervisory Board and Chief Advisor of Partai Demokrasi Perjuangan (PDIP) Taufik Kiemas had agreed to conduct a "Second Ciganjur Meeting" between NU and PDIP to set up Presidential Election 2009 strategy.

With all Major Parties having their own Presidential Candidate, Hidayat Nur Wahid of PKS to be best choice Vice President

With the announcement of Chairman of Golkar Jusuf Kalla as Golkar's Presidential Candidate in 2009 Election, now every Major Parties will need a Vice Presidential running mate to be able to participate ini the July 2009 Presidential Election because of the requirement for each President/Vice President pair to be supported by 20% Parliamentary Vote support. The only major Party that had not annunce their own PresidentialCandidate is Partai Keadilan Sejahtera or PKS with Mr. Hidayat Nur Wahid as its Party's President.

As we all know that PKS, because of its good performance of its leaders and executives in the current Indonesian Parliament and Government for showing as clean and conducting good Governance, we all expect that in the coming Parliamentary Election on April 9, 2009 PKS will get a large votes of confidence from the people of Indonesia.

Thus whatever major Party who had its own Presidential Candidate for 2009 Presidential Election will have a good chance of winning the Election if they take Mr. Hidayat Nur Wahid of PKS as their Vice Presidential running mate. We will see in the coming weeks how the situation will change as predicted.

Former Indonesia Military Chief Wiranto joined the Presidential Race 2009

Former Indonesian Military Chief Retired General Wiranto had joined the Indonesia Presidential Election to be held in July 2009. In his reasoning for joining the Presidential race is that he felt that it was his duty as a responsible citizen to try to help the nation that is badly in of a new President who will lead the country toward peace and prosperity as had been the ideals of our founding fathers.

Wiranto explianed that he was not hunger for a power, because during the transition period from the New Order to the Reformation Order, he could if he wished to grab the Power from the former President Suharto at that time.

Thus his decision to join the Presidential Race in 2009 was purely to help the ailing nation.

President SBY and Vice President JK to compete in 2009 Election

Presdent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) said yesterday that he is ready to compete with Vice President Jusuf Kalla (JK), Chairman of Golkar Party if he is proposed as Golkar's candidate for the next Presidential Election. However Presiden SBY assured that the candicacy of JK as President 2009-2014 from Golkar Party will not affect the current relationship between him and JK as President/Vice Presiden in the United Cabinet 2004-2009.

He respect the decision of JK as the Presidential Candidate of Partai Golkar. He believe that both men understand the Indonesian Election ethic. In the past, President Megawati also had to compete in the 2004 Presidetial Election with her former Vice President Hamzah Haz. This is Democracy Indonesian style.

Afraid of Politization, Vice President Jusuf Kalla cancelled Press Conference

The arrival of Vice President Jusuf Kalla from a trip to USA and Europe was delayed for 4 days. His arrival yesterday, Sunday February 14, 2009 at Jakarta International Airport at 06:00 a.m. was greeted by Golkar Party executives. Originally he was scheduled to give interviews to reporters that had been waiting his arrival for some time, but Mr. Jusuf Kalla cancelled the interview to avoid possible politization of the event by the press.

He said that he must report to President SBY on the result of his foreign trip to USA and Europe before talking to the Indonesian press. His delayed arrival coincided with the ending of Golkar Party Convention held a few days ago, and was suspected as a tactics to avoid announcing Golkar Party Presidential Candidate for the coming election.

In another situation, Golkar Party had released a TV advertising showing that Golkar Leadership as a solid team to face the coming election. Former Golkar Chief Akbar Tanjung commented that as for the Party's goals, all Golkar executives had the same opinion, however, as far as the implementation of the goals, they may differed.

Pramono Anung: Door for Cooperation between GOLKAR and PDIP is widely opened

Secretary General of the Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDIP) Pramono Anung said on Friday, Feb 13, 2009 in Jakarta that the door for cooperation between PDIP and GOLKAR is now widely open. He commented on the rift between Partai GOLKAR and its coalition Partai Demokrat (PD) earlier this weeek caused by a statatement made by an official of PD who underestimated the expected votes obtained by Partai Golkar in the coming election. He indirectly said that his Party offered a cooperation between PDIP and Partai Golkar in the next election, after being left by PD.

Because PD had announced that President SBY as its Presidential Candidate for the coming election, with no specific name for the Vice Presidential Candidate, and PDIP also had announced Megawati Sukarnoputri as its Presidential candidate, the chance that the two parties will make a coalition is fairly remote.

Thus according to Pramono Anung, cooperation between GOLKAR and PDIP would be a better possibilty to happen during the coming election.

Jakarta is cleard from illegal campaign posters and ballyhoos

Jakarta, the Capital of Indonesia starting yesterday was cleared from the many election campaign posters and ballyhoos that had decorated Jakarta’s streets and open spaces put by participants of the Legislative Election Candidates of many parties. They were considered illegal because the owners of those posters and ballyhoos had not paid the required campaign tax and were not installed properly according the election campaign rule.

As of today, only those posters and ballyhoos that met campaign rule are seen around Jakarta’s sky, noted particularly those large ballyhoos belonging to Partai Demokrat, the ruling party of Indonesia, which advertise the success of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

In another situation, several Presidential Candidates who appeared much earlier in the election campaign, such as Mr. Sutiyoso. Mr. Rizal Ramly had gradually reduced their campaign presence, because of the high cost required to maintain campaign through mass media, television, radio, prited leaflets, ballyhoos and posters.

Thus only the strong, powerful and rich leaders of Indonesia will be able to continue campaigning for the leadership of the country.

Agung: GOLKAR will make a list of potential Presidential Candidates in 2009 Election

Mr. Agung Laksono, Vice Chairman of Golkar said on Wednesday, June 11, 2009 that his party will make a of list seven potential Presidential candidate to be supported by his party. The list of names will be available in early March 2009 as a compilation of proposals from various regiional Golkar branches throughout Indonesia. However these names will not be official until the result of the Legislative Election is announced in April 2009.

He said that the relation between Golkar and Partai Demokrat is a dynamic relationship that is aimed to mutually benefiting both parties. Changes to the current coopertion will depend on the outcome of the Legilative Election to determine Prsident-Vice President running mate for the June Presidentioal Election.

President SBY: GOLKAR is a close ally of Partai Demokrat

Commenting on the news about the statement of Vice Chairman of Partai Demokrat Mr. Ahmad Mubarok on monday, February 9, 2009, President SBY said in a Press Conference on Tuesday February 10, 2009 at his Cikeas villa that Partai GOLKAR is a close ally of Partai Demokrat. As a Patron of the Partai Demokrat, President SBY asked Mr. Mubarok not to make any statements without the consent of the party’s leadership that can cause trouble to the Party.

Mubarok: Jusuf Kalla may not be the running mate of President SBY in 2009 Election

Vice Chairman of the Democratic Party of Indonesia ( PD-Partai Demokrat) Mr. Ahmad Mubarok said during the party’s National Convention held in Jakarta on Monday, February 9, 2009, that current Vice Presiden Jusuf Kalla may not be President SBY’s partner for the period of 2009-2014 as Vice President, because there are other potential Vice Presidents, such as Mr. Hidayat Nur Wahid, currently as the Chairman of the Indonesian Consultative Assembly.

This could happen if during the coming Legislative Election, GOLKAR Party cannot secure a majority seats at the new Indonesian Parliament as in 2004. He gave example that Golkar may only got 2.5% vote, while the Partai Keadilan Sejahtera (PKS - the party supporting Mr. Hidayat Nur Wahid) got a 20% vote, and the Partai Demokrat got 20% vote, then for sure President SBY will choose Mr. Hidayat Nur Wahid as his running mate for his Vice Presidential Candidate for June 9, 2009 Presidential Election.

Commenting on this remark, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that Partai Demokrat should not underestimate Partai GOLKAR for its strength covering all of Indonesian regions. It has had a long root of loyal supporters througout Indonesia.

Dispute about Election Results

Indonesia had had experience in the past for the first freely held election of President in 2004, and since then various Indonesian provinces and regions had had free and independent elections for governors and regents, In most occasions, there were disputes about the accuracy or corecctness of the election results, which then had to be resolved through a High Courts or Constitutional Courts.

These had led to delays in appointing Governors or Regents for many months, thus causing delays in the development of that province or region/city.

In the coming Legislative Election on April 9, 2009, the election process would even take longer period to complete, in view of the large number political parties and their candidates. There will be 44 political parties participation in the next election. The resulting large size election paper, whereby every citizen have to put a sign mark on their chosen candidate, make it difficult to manage, collect and count. There will be more disputes about the election results, for invalid vote, wrong counting or errors due to human manipulation or changes of data.

Since Indonesia consists of many islands and the fast territorial area, there will be signifacnt delays in the collecting and counting the election results. unless we find a more efficient and election counting tools or better computerized tools.

Welcome to the Indonesian Election News Blog

Welcome to the Indonesian Election News Blog!
This Blog is specially created to provide the lates news about the process of the Indonesian Legislative Election on April 9, 2009 and the Presidential Election on June 9, 2009, its preparation, campigning, polling process, election counting and the announcement of the election results.

The election news will also cover any activities of each party, candidates, supporters, fund raising. debate forums, election rallies, etc.

The purpose of the Blog is provide the readers with latest news and facts, so as to ensure the clean, fair and democratic election process, so that the results of the election really represent the real wishes and hope of the people of the Republic of Indonesia.