Golkar helps burnish Wiranto's image<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta\/Cirebon<\/p>\n
The Golkar Party has handed out reading material to its
\ncampaigners to serve as ammunition to counter political opponents
\nwho hope to tarnish the image of its presidential candidate, Gen.
\n(ret) Wiranto.<\/p>\n
The former armed forces commander has been linked to a spate
\nof human rights abuses, including the May riots in 1998, the
\nbloody incidents of Trisakti and Semanggi in 1998 and 1999, and
\nthe carnage in East Timor in 1999.<\/p>\n
The material would also be used by Golkar campaigners to
\npromote Wiranto and his running mate Solahuddin Wahid, a senior
\nleader of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), during a month-long campaign
\nstarting Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The materials were handed out to 350 campaigners during a
\ntraining session at the Jakarta Hilton Convention Center earlier
\non Monday.<\/p>\n
Members of Golkar and the National Awakening Party (PKB),
\nwhich is affiliated with the NU, will campaign in the provinces
\nof Jakarta, West Java and Banten.<\/p>\n
Similar training sessions have been held for campaigners due
\nto be deployed to cities in Central Java, East Java and to other
\nislands.<\/p>\n
Golkar has also prepared arguments to counter opinion that the
\ncandidacy of Wiranto means the revival of militarism and that
\nWiranto is working to an agenda of the Cendana family -- that of
\nformer president Soeharto.<\/p>\n
During the training, the campaigners were told that Wiranto
\nwas the victim of an international conspiracy.<\/p>\n
The campaigners were also told to underline the failure of the
\ncurrent government to protect migrant workers and to save state
\nassets, as campaign issues.<\/p>\n
Wiranto said after a meeting with editors of print and
\nelectronic media that, although his meeting with East Timor
\nPresident Xanana Gusmao could not stop the prosecution process,
\ncurrently in the hands of the country's judiciary on his alleged
\ninvolvement in gross human rights violations, it could at least
\nshow that both sides had started to reconcile.<\/p>\n
\"The meeting shows that top leaders who were directly involved
\nin the East Timor breakaway have decided to leave the past behind
\nthem and start to build new relations without vengeance or
\nretaliation,\" he said after the talks with editors.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile deputy chairperson of the National Awakening Party
\n(PKB) Khofifah Indar Parawansa officially tendered her
\nresignation from the campaigning team of Wiranto because she
\npreferred to remain as the chairperson of Muslimat, a women's
\norganization affiliated to the NU.<\/p>\n
Muslimat made a decision recently to remain neutral in the
\nelection and be nonactive if its members were in any team set up
\nto campaign for the success of NU members in the presidential
\nelection.<\/p>\n
In Cirebon, West Java, at least 65 NU leaders from 60 Muslim
\nboarding schools declared their support for the Wiranto-
\nSolahuddin candidacy.<\/p>\n
Spokesman Abdul Muhaimin Asad said the support was taken to
\nconsolidate an earlier decision of the PKB that the party
\nsupported the Wiranto-Solahuddin pairing.<\/p>\n
Asad added that the Muslim clerics supported Wiranto and
\nSolahuddin because the General Elections Commission (KPU) had
\ndisqualified PKB candidate Abdurrahman Wahid from running for the
\npresidency for health reasons.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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