Is there room for Cinderella pairing?
Is there room for Cinderella pairing?
Ridwan Sijabat and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta
The "Cinderella ticket" is perhaps a fitting description for the
pairing of Hamzah Haz and Agum Gumelar, especially given that
they like to cast themselves as underdogs in the upcoming
presidential election due to their lack of political and
financial support.
Hamzah, the vice president and leader of the United
Development Party (PPP), which came in third in the April 5
legislative election, said his campaign had only Rp 500 billion
to spend, but believed this would be enough to get the supporters
out during the month-long campaign.
He said he and Agum were determined to create a new Indonesia
with better social welfare, the upholding of social justice and
better handling of the economic and moral crises.
"The development policy will give more attention to religious
freedom, improvements in the quality of education and technology,
and community economic development," he said after Friday prayers
in Bogor, West Java.
Born in Ketapang, West Kalimantan, on Feb. 15, 1940, Hamzah
studied economics and graduated from the State Cooperatives
Academy, Yogyakarta, in 1962. He also studied economics at
Tanjungpura University in West Kalimantan in 1970.
Agum, a retired army lieutenant general, would appear to have
a strong base in the military. He has said he will focus on
campaigning among servicemen's dependents and ex-servicemen
nationwide, as well as in his native province of West Java.
"The 8.15 percent of voters who supported PPP in the
legislative election is expected to remain loyal. Our party
workers in the provinces, regencies/municipalities and districts
are now trying to win over the swing voters," he said after a
meeting with officials from the Association of Ex-servicemen and
Servicemen's Dependents (Pepabri) here on Friday.
He said Hamzah and he had agreed to Create a new cabinet
structure, and would declare all-out war on corruption if they
won the election.
"The National Police will be subordinated to the Ministry of
Home Affairs, or the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, while
the Indonesian Military (TNI) will be subordinated to the
Ministry of Defense. The TNI will be led by the joint chiefs of
staff. The economy must be developed to create more jobs and
corruption must be eradicated," he said.
Agum, who was born in Tasikmalaya, West Java, on Dec. 17,
1945, studied medicine at Padjadjaran University for one year
before switching to the military. He is a graduate of the
National Military Academy (AMN).