'Don't be too harsh with cheating allegations', SBY says

Erwida Maulia ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Tue, 04/21/2009 6:47 PM  |  National

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono warned his political rivals on Tuesday to be careful with their cheating allegations.

He was responding to some political parties threatening to boycott the presidential elections because of dissatisfaction over troubled voter lists, which excluded many eligible voters and prevented them from casting ballots in the April 9 legislative elections.

Visibly upset, he said he personally knew of their misdoings in the past.

"The 2004 elections were not long ago; I have many memories of it. But, let them become part of the past. Don't lecture me about cheating and not cheating, I know what these people did in the past," the President said in a press conference at the Presidential Palace on Tuesday.

"It is hurtful to be accused of cheating when we have never done so and have not even the slightest intention of doing so. I want all the problems regarding the voter lists to be settled soon. Be careful; don't be too harsh with cheating allegations."

Yudhoyono said he, too, was engrossed with the troubled voter lists, adding he had ordered Home Affairs Minister Mardiyanto to urge the General Elections Commission to sort out the lists.

He called for election participants to "compete healthily and fairly", and not so easily accuse others of cheating.

"This isn't a good democracy," Yudhoyono said.

He said he believed there would be no such thing as a single candidate in the upcoming presidential election, adding Indonesia had many political figures with the capacity to contest the election.

Copyright © 2008 The Jakarta Post - PT Bina Media Tenggara. All Rights Reserved.