Mega's camp plays down defection

Mega's camp plays down defection

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta

An aide to presidential candidate Megawati Soekarnoputri played
down on Wednesday the defection of some legislators from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) to the Susilo
Bambang Yudhoyono camp, saying that the defectors were not from
the party's mainstream.

Sukowaluyo Mintoharjo, a member of the Megawati campaign team,
also said that every party member was free to decide on what he
wanted to do ahead of the election.

"The PDI-P is not alone as none of the other parties are all
that compact at the present time, either," he said on Wednesday.

"If some PDI-P members decide to throw their lot in with the
other presidential candidate, they are free to do so. We
shouldn't be too worried ...," said Sukowaluyo, who is also a
former chairman of the PDI-P's research unit.

He was responding to news of a planned meeting at the home of
PDI-P legislator Arifin Panigoro in South Jakarta on Thursday
evening to discuss proposals to help Susilo win the runoff on
Sept. 20.

Earlier, Susilo strategist Suko Sudarso said that a group of
former and active PDI-P members, including legislator Julius
Usman and Meilono Suwondo, had thrown their support behind the
Susilo-Kalla ticket.

Another PDI-P member, Sophan Sophiaan, will also come out in
support of Susilo, according to Suko.

"We hope that the support for Pak Bambang will shape up after
the meeting, and the day afterwards we will issue a joint
statement expressing our political stance," said Suko, a former
PDI-P member, after a preliminary meeting with a number of
wavering Golkar politicians at the Regent Hotel on Tuesday.

This new development comes on the heels of intensified
contacts between Megawati and Golkar leader Akbar Tandjung. The
two have met three times since the July 5 presidential election,
which saw Megawati finish second behind Susilo. Golkar's
candidate Wiranto came third, but now is challenging the election
results in court.

Julius said Megawati had failed to put the reform agenda back
on track during her time in office.

Some Golkar politicians have also pledged their support for
Susilo, a retired four-star Army general. They included Fahmi
Idris and Priyo Budi Santoso.

Fahmi claimed the majority of executives of the party's
provincial and regency chapters in Sulawesi, except North
Sulawesi; Kalimantan, except West Kalimantan; and Java, except
East Java, had voiced their support for Susilo and his running
mate Jusuf Kalla, who is a member of Golkar.

Susilo and Kalla are running under the banner of the upstart
Democratic Party. Recent polls predicted they would win over
Megawati and her running mate Hasyim Muzadi in the runoff.

Another Golkar executive, Theo L. Sambuaga, said this
development did not signal an internal rift within the party.

"Even though our party has yet to officially decide which
presidential ticket we will support, I would suggest that it
would be better for us to back the Megawati-Hasyim pairing," Theo
said.

By contrast, Golkar deputy chairman Marzuki Darusman said on
Wednesday that Golkar was facing a possible internal rift, and
urged Akbar not to precipitously pledge the party's support to
any candidate until after the results of the runoff were known.

"Golkar will play a prominent role in the legislature as we
took the biggest share of the vote in the legislative elections.
So, no matter who wins the runoff, a coalition with us will be
important," Marzuki said on Wednesday.