Smear campaign mars cooling-off period

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.