Smear campaign mars cooling-off period

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Two days before the presidential election runoff on Monday, the campaign team for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was kept busy countering allegations that could harm its candidate.

A tabloid called Fakta (Fact) hit the streets in Jakarta on Saturday, running one-sided stories about what it called Susilo's "public deception".

In its cover story, the tabloid reported that Susilo had married a Filipino woman before being admitted to the Military Academy in 1970. Susilo is married to Kristiani Herrawati.

No less than former Army chief Gen. (ret) R. Hartono, the Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB) leader, who has publicly declared his party's support for Megawati Soekarnoputri, took the report seriously.

"I heard these reports long before. But judging from his personality, I didn't believe it," Hartono said. "But if it's true and he is elected, it will hamper his career. Therefore, he has to clarify this story."

The director of Susilo's campaign team, Yusuf Rizal, and former Indonesian Military chief of general affairs Lt. Gen. (ret) Suyono denied the story. Yusuf said the report was an effort to undercut Susilo's bid for the presidency.

Susilo, meanwhile, spent the day defending his doctoral dissertation on agricultural and economic development at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture.

Megawati visited Sragen in Central Java on Saturday to hand out low interest loans to villagers, which she denied was an attempt to buy votes.

"Some cynical people have said the no collateral microcredit program is part of my campaign as a presidential candidate," she said, adding that the program would continue after the election.