Amien in one-horse debate race

Amien in one-horse debate race

Muninggar Sri Saraswati, Jakarta

Amien Rais was the only presidential candidate on Wednesday to
answer the challenge to attend a debate organized by students at
the University of Indonesia in Depok.

Arriving at the university at about 2 p.m., Amien only had a
few minutes to rest as more than 1,000 students and lecturers
were impatient to see the debate begin.

Most of the students, some from other universities across the
country, had been waiting for almost three hours. To their
disappointment, however, the other four presidential candidates
failed to show up.

Ahmad Nur Hidayat, who heads the University of Indonesia's
Student Executive Body, had told the floor that the organizing
committee was only expecting Amien, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and
Hamzah Haz to participate in the debate.

The campaign team of incumbent President Megawati
Soekarnoputri simply rejected the students' invitation, while
Wiranto's team told the organizing committee they preferred to
campaign across the country rather than attend the debate.

"We do not know why Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Hamzah Haz
did not show up. They promised last night to come. They missed
the opportunity to present their programs to the students, who
are eager to criticize their visions and missions," he said.

Susilo was the keynote speaker at a seminar on Wednesday
attended by high-profile businesspeople, while Wiranto held a
meeting with a delegate from the Chinese Chamber of Commerce.
Hamzah, who is the current Vice President, was in the Central
Java town of Surakarta to meet with a cleric, while Megawati was
in Surabaya, where she visited a market for about 10 minutes.

A student at the University of Indonesia's School of Law,
Fedra Rossi, questioned the courage of the absent candidates.

"What are they afraid of? We only want to hear about their
programs because they do not provide sufficient information
during the campaign. Do they think we want to buy a cat in a
sack?" she told The Jakarta Post.

Dozens of Susilo supporters from the SBY Fan Club joined the
crowd at the campus, but left after they learned that Susilo
would not be attending the debate.

Prior to the debate, several young men handed out mementos
bearing the pictures of Wiranto and his running mate Solahuddin
Wahid.

Unlike televised presidential debates, the event on Wednesday
allowed audience members to question the candidate on any topic
of their choosing.

Political analyst Andi Mallarangeng, who hosted the event, let
students and lecturers, including University of Indonesia Rector
Usman Chatib Warsa, bombard Amien with questions on various
topics, including corruption eradication, education, law
enforcement and Indonesia's ties with the International Monetary
Fund.

In the middle of the question and answer session, a student,
Fajar, criticized Amien for talking about law enforcement while a
councillor representing his National Mandate Party (PAN) in
Padang, West Sumatra, was in jail for graft.

"How can you say that you will be able to uphold the law if
you did nothing about your own people?" said Fajar to the cheers
of the crowd.

Amien appeared a bit flustered but was able to respond.
"Indeed, the case in Padang is exceptional. It does not happen in
other parts of the country. Let us eradicate corruption
together."

About 15 minutes later, with the event coming to an end, Amien
returned to the student's criticism.

"Mas, for your information, we have dismissed all PAN
councillors implicated in the case. We will not tolerate it," he
said.

Box story

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Amien-train-pickpocket

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As a presidential candidate, Amien Rais is entitled to special
protection from the state, and the candidate and his entourage
must have been fairly confident that they did not have to worry
about petty criminals.

However, their confidence was shattered on Wednesday and Amien
may want to rethink his security precautions.

A police subprecinct chief, nine journalists and Amien's
campaign deputy manager, Dien Syamsuddin, all had their cellular
phones stolen while accompanying the candidate on a packed
commuter train from Manggarai station in South Jakarta to the
University of Indonesia campus in Depok for a debate, detik.com
news portal reported.

Dien kept close to Amien's side during the trip, as the
candidate made his way from car to car to talk with passengers.
Also accompanying Amien were several police officers.

Most commuter trains are notoriously overcrowded and
pickpockets and sexual harassment are commonplace.

A cameramen who lost his cellular phone while taking pictures
of Amien complained to the chief of the Tebet Police subprecinct,
Adj. Comr. Budiono, who was accompanying Amien's entourage.

To the journalist's surprise, Budiono replied, "Well, it did
not happen only to you. I just lost my cellular phone as well."
-- The Jakarta Post