Candidates wrap up electoral campaign period peacefully
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta/Makassar/Serang
The five presidential candidates wrapped up their campaigns on Thursday, with some of the candidates warning supporters to beware of vote buying, which they said could tarnish the election.
Speaking to the press at the Golkar headquarters in West Jakarta, Solahuddin Wahid urged supporters and the public not to give in to vote buying, especially during the morning of the election on July 5.
Every vote in the election will be important for Indonesia's future, stressed Solahuddin, the running mate of Golkar's presidential candidate Wiranto.
"Every vote will be meaningful for efforts to resolve the economic crisis and improve the people's welfare," he said during an appearance with campaign chairman Slamet Effendy Yusuf and Golkar secretary-general Budi Harsono.
Amien Rais, the presidential candidate from the National Mandate Party (PAN), also warned people to watch out for vote buying ahead of the election.
During his final campaign rally at the Karebosi field in Makassar, South Sulawesi, Amien also called on the Elections Supervisory Committee to look into the financial sources of all of the candidates.
The practice of vote buying, he was quoted by Antara as saying, would only damage the country's developing democracy.
Incumbent President Megawati Soekarnoputri's running mate, Hasyim Muzadi, thanked the people, the General Elections Commission and the security forces for helping to ensure a peaceful campaign period.
Thursday was the last day of the one-month campaign, which began on June 1.
Hasyim, who temporarily stepped down as Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) chairman to accept the invitation to be Megawati's running mate, called on all of the presidential candidates and their running mates to maintain the peace during the last few days before the election.
During the five-day "cooling-off period" in which campaigning is banned, Hasyim said he would stay at his Al Hikam Muslim boarding school in Malang, East Java, but would cast his vote in Central Jakarta on July 5.
He expressed optimism that he and Megawati would take part in an expected second-round of voting on Sept. 5, even though polls show Megawati's popularity falling and minimum NU support for him.
On the final day of the campaign, Megawati was in Tangerang, Banten, where she opened a public health center during her visit to Suradita village, Cisauk district. The center is aimed at helping poor people in need of medical treatment.
Also campaigning in Banten were United Development Party (PPP) presidential candidate Hamzah Haz and his running mate Agum Gumelar.
Addressing supporters in Serang, Hamzah pledged to provide free education for elementary school, junior high school and high school students within the first two years of his presidency.
Free education is vital, he said, because almost 80 percent of the country's 210 million people can only afford to continue their educations as far as junior high school.
Candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono spoke out on how he plans to fight corruption, saying there should be regular audits of state officials' wealth to determine whether they are enriching themselves while in office.
"Regular audits are necessary to identify if increases in officials' wealth are reasonable or not," he said in Jakarta.
Susilo emphasized that corruption eradication would be among the top priorities of his administration. He vowed to reopen or continue the investigations into all past graft cases.
Ending his campaign, Susilo delivered a speech detailing his economic-heavy policy platform, which includes creating more jobs, increasing economic growth to 5.5 percent next year, ending separatist and sectarian conflicts, and fighting terrorism.
Susilo, a retired four-star general, also promised to tackle endemic graft and ensure that the law was enforced equally against all people.
"To create a better Indonesia within the next five years, I will do everything to wipe out corruption. We have to create a clean, accountable, transparent and efficient government and bureaucracy," he said.
Susilo's running mate Jusuf Kalla did not appear at the rally on Thursday as he was still en route to Jakarta from Cirebon, West Java.