Record turnout consolidates Susilo's lead<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta\/Makassar<\/p>\n
Just a week ahead of the July 5 election, presidential candidate
\nSusilo Bambang Yudhoyono drew a huge crowd in his campaign rally
\nin Jakarta on Sunday, giving credence to opinion polls putting
\nhim first in the race.<\/p>\n
Some 70,000 people packed the Bung Karno sports stadium to see
\nSusilo, causing massive traffic jams along the roads leading to
\nthe country's biggest sports' fixture in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Susilo, a retired four-star general who appeared with his
\nrunning mate, Jusuf Kalla, expressed optimism he would secure up
\nto 40 percent of votes in the first round of the poll.<\/p>\n
The latest opinion survey released on Wednesday by the
\nInternational Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) shows an
\nincrease in Susilo's popularity to 45 percent, more than the
\ncombined total of his four contenders -- Megawati Soekarnoputri,
\nWiranto, Amien Rais and Hamzah Haz.<\/p>\n
\"I have learned from opinion polls and my time in the field
\nthat we are winning the mandate of the people during the
\nelection,\" said Susilo who is nominated by the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n
\"It is not excessive if we are optimistic we will be the top
\npolling ticket in the first round (of elections) and take the
\nsecond round too,\" he added.<\/p>\n
A possible run-off will be held on Sept. 20 between the top
\ntwo candidates if none of the five candidates wins more than 50
\npercent of over 153 million voters in the first round.<\/p>\n
\"I wish the Indonesian people could exercise their political
\nrights in a proper democratic environment, where slander and
\nuntruthfulness were not the rule,\" Susilo said, referring to
\nsmear campaigns against him.<\/p>\n
In a campaign spread by SMS messages, Susilo is accused of
\nsecretly being a Christian, while the message also says his new
\nDemocratic Party is also Christian-dominated. Kalla, meanwhile,
\nis alleged to be hostile to ethnic Indonesian Chinese.<\/p>\n
Outside the stadium, Susilo's supporters distributed stickers
\nand flyers showing 73 percent of the Democratic candidates
\nelected in the April 5 legislative election were Muslims.<\/p>\n
The campaign saw hundreds of doves and balloons released and
\nSusilo and Kalla sang several songs with cheering supporters.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in South Sulawesi, National Mandate Party candidate
\nAmien Rais promised on Sunday to include at least three women in
\nhis cabinet if elected as president.<\/p>\n
Speaking during a meeting with a women's community group in
\nthe provincial capital of Makassar, Amien said the three women
\nwould be appointed as the foreign affairs minister, justice
\nminister and women's empowerment minister respectively. He did
\nnot name the women.<\/p>\n
Amien was not able to meet his supporters in the four other
\nregencies of Parepare, Palopo, Watampone and Enrekang after the
\nPelita Air Service could not provide him with a chartered
\nhelicopter to fly him there.<\/p>\n
A member of his campaign team, Ramli Haba, said this was a
\nform of campaign sabotage. Pelita had earlier promised to provide
\na helicopter to Amien, he said.<\/p>\n
Pelita Air Service could not be reached for comment.<\/p>\n
Campaigning in the West Kalimantan capital of Pontianak,
\nincumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri denied she was
\nexploiting the gender issue to campaign in the election.<\/p>\n
\"It is a fact that I am the only female candidate, so it's
\nnormal if I promote issues that encourage Indonesian women,\" she
\ntold her supporters at the Sultan Syarif Abdurrachman Alqadrie
\nstadium in Pontianak.<\/p>\n
\"Women bear children. Men who criticize women politicians are
\nalso born by women. This is a fact,\" she was quoted by Antara as
\nsaying.<\/p>\n
Megawati had earlier been targeted by several clerics in
\nNahdlatul Ulama (NU), who recently issued an edict calling on
\nMuslims not to vote for a female president because it was against
\nsharia law.<\/p>\n
In Pekanbaru, Golkar Party presidential candidate Wiranto
\ndistributed masks for travellers affected by haze from forest
\nfires and cropland burnings across Riau.<\/p>\n
\"Environmental damage takes place every day in every part of
\nour country. A good leader must stop this damage soon,\" he was
\nquoted by Antara as saying before his supporters at the Rumbai
\nsports stadium.<\/p>\n
Riau and other parts of Sumatra and West Kalimantan are
\nannually blanketed with thick acrid smoke.<\/p>\n
In a campaign held by incumbent Vice President Hamzah Haz in
\nJember, East Java, a group affiliated to his United Development
\nParty (PPP), the Ka'bah Youth Movement (GPK), pledged loyalty to
\nhim.<\/p>\n
The group urged Hamzah to throw out GPK members who supported
\nother presidential candidates.<\/p>\n
The GPK Jakarta branch has reportedly voiced support for the
\nAmien-Siswono Yudhohusodo team.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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