President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), like other candidates, has found that declaring a peaceful campaign is easier said than done, as he continued to chide his rivals during his campaign activities Friday (JUne, 12 2009). In a speech before supporters at Ken Arok Sports Hall in the East Java town of Malang, the incumbent President said many of his government programs had proven his rivals wrong. “Someone talks about a people-oriented economy, but I haven’t seen what that really looks like. Instead, what we have done proves we provide economic opportunities. "The loans for farmers and fishermen, the Rp 1.3 billion aid to help each district empower its economy, all constitute to a people-oriented economy,” Yudhoyono said. He was referring to Megawati Soekarnoputri and her running mate Prabowo Subianto, who have repeatedly boasted about their people-oriented economic model, which they claim is an alternative to the Western neoliberal approach taken by SBY. Yudhoyono then turned to Jusuf Kalla, his running mate in the 2004 election. “Besmirching the government, while being part of the government is not ethically acceptable to be frank,” Yudhoyono said of Kalla’s persistent criticism of his administration. Yudhoyono has repeatedly expressed discontent with Kalla’s election motto “Faster, better”, saying it was a show of overconfidence. During his speech, Yudhoyono also promised to promote clean government which he said would take a zero tolerance approach to state officials who profited from their jobs or provided facilities to their families and cronies. All presidential hopefuls campaigned outside of Jakarta on Friday, in three different cities on the second day of the public campaign period. Kalla visited Yogyakarta to open the annual meeting of the Aisyiah women’s Islamic organization before leaving for Semarang to address a meeting of the Village Heads Association (Apdesi). In his speech before the Aisyiah meeting, Kalla insisted that Indonesia needed to move faster to become a stronger nation, specifically in the economic sector. "I expect Indonesia will become a strong and self-reliant country,” he told a gathering at the Yogyakarta State University. He said this target could be achieved if Indonesians worked hand in hand and used more local than imported products. "Don’t simply rely on foreign aid. We can do it alone and I believe we can.” Kalla also said Indonesia lagged far behind other countries such as China, India and Singapore in terms of economic development. “Currently, we can only compete with Vietnam. So we must move faster,” said Kalla who is running with Wiranto from the Hanura Party. In Semarang, Kalla also officiated the Sultan Agung Islamic University’s boarding school. Kalla is scheduled to visit Aceh on Saturday. Megawati held her campaign session in the North Sulawesi capital of Manado, the hometown of Prabowo’s mother.
Author: The Jakarta Post with a little modified Indonesia Today
Author: The Jakarta Post with a little modified Indonesia Today
