Megawati goes all out on welfare tour

Megawati goes all out on welfare tour

The Jakarta Post, Mataram/Surabaya

President Megawati Soekarnoputri visited West Nusa Tenggara on
Tuesday, where she handed over government grants worth Rp 17
billion (US$1.8million) for community development at district
level across the province.

The grants were formally transferred to 10 district chiefs at
the opening of a national applied technology exhibition here.

During the one-day visit, the President observed operations on
two harelip patients and donated two ambulances to Mataram
General Hospital.

Megawati, who is up against her former senior security
minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the election runoff on Sept.
20, has been touring the country in the past month to meet as
many constituents as possible.

Earlier on Sunday, Susilo visited West Nusa Tenggara to attend
the anniversary celebration of the Nahdlatul Wathon Muslim
organization.

In the first round of the election in July, Megawati did
poorly in West Nusa Tenggara and other eastern parts of
Indonesia, such as Papua and Sulawesi.

Accompanying her on the visit were Minister of Home Affairs
Hari Sabarno and State Minister of Research and Technology Hatta
Radjasa.

At the opening of the exhibition, the President launched 5,054
technology service centers, which will operate in villages across
the country.

Later in the day, the President journeyed to Timika in Papua,
where she will stay overnight before attending another event.

She is slated to address a national meeting of the country's
church leaders in the Papua capital of Jayapura, during which she
will also participate in a discussion.

A presidential palace official told The Jakarta Post on
Tuesday that Megawati's husband Taufik Kiemas would accompany her
in Papua.

The church leaders also invited Susilo, who will be
represented by his running mate Jusuf Kalla. Kalla is scheduled
to present his team's vision and mission before the church
leaders at Sentani Hotel in Jayapura on Tuesday evening.

The Susilo-Kalla pair won over 80 percent of the vote in the
province in the first round of the election.

Susilo visited Surabaya on Tuesday to attend a dialog with the
Rectors Forum.

He said, after the meeting, he was intensifying talks with
Nahdlatul Ulama and National Awakening Party (PKB) leaders ahead
of the runoff.

"I have approached the top leaders of the PKB on several
occasions, but not to form a coalition. I will also pay more
visits to NU supporters in the grass roots and senior clerics,"
Susilo said.

He said he would not seek to form a coalition until he had
secured the presidency.

"I reaffirm my stance not to hold coalition talks with any
political party (before the runoff). That doesn't mean I do not
need their support, but I respect the electoral process," he
said.

During his visit to Surabaya, Susilo also met with executives
of the NU youth wing Ansor and the Inter-Churches Consultative
Body, as well as NU clerics Mas Subadar, Lutfi and Sholeh Khozim.