Mega to give SBY inauguration a miss

Fabiola Desy Unidjadja and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

While leaders of neighboring countries are confirmed to attend Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's inauguration, outgoing President Megawati Soekarnoputri has decided to stay away.

Pramono Anung, deputy secretary-general of her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said on Saturday that Megawati and Vice President Hamzah Haz would not be present when Susilo takes his oath of office on Oct. 20.

"Neither of them will attend the inauguration because there is no regulation requiring the incumbent president and vice president to attend the event," Pramono said after attending a party meeting.

Neither Hamzah nor his close aides were available for comment on Saturday.

A reliable palace source said on Friday that Megawati, who suffered a crushing defeat to Susilo in the Sept. 20 election, would attend the inauguration of Susilo and his vice president Jusuf Kalla. Both Susilo and Kalla were Megawati's coordinating ministers.

"As the agenda is only the inauguration of the president and vice president, the party leadership has decided that both of them (Megawati and Hamzah) will not attend the event," Pramono said.

Pramono also emphasized that Megawati had no plan to meet Susilo in the near future and rejected suggestions that Megawati had to meet the incoming president for the sake of national reconciliation.

"Reconciliation comes after a conflict or a clash. Ibu Mega has clearly said that she has no problem with the election result," Pramono said.

Susilo and Kalla have on several occasions publicly expressed their desire to meet Megawati before the inauguration to facilitate the transition of power.

Pramono said Megawati has instructed her Cabinet ministers to prepare for the transfer of power to ensure a smooth transition of government.

"It is sufficient that the transfer of government be done at the ministerial level," he said.

Meanwhile, detik.com reported on Saturday that Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong would attend Susilo's inauguration ceremony, making him the fourth head of state of a neighboring country to attend the event.

Quoting television station Channel News Asia, detik.com said Lee's participation in the ceremony was announced by his personal secretary Ong Ye Kung.

Foreign ministry officials were not available for comment on the news on Saturday.

Earlier, government officials here said that Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and East Timor Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri would also attend the ceremony.