Comments: Kalla to compete with SBY

Sat, 04/25/2009 1:33 PM  |  Reader's Forum

Golkar party has given mandate to chairman Jusuf Kalla to build coalition with other political parties promoting him to presidential candidate in upcoming election. "Golkar will promote Kalla for president," said Zainal Bintang, head of Golkar party's division on labor and transmigration, on Wednesday.

He said the decision would be distributed to head of the party's provincial chapters in the plenary meeting on Thursday. After a week of intensive talks, Golkar and the Democratic party failed to reach any agreements on a coalition, ending the plan to pair Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Jusuf Kalla in the upcoming presidential election. Golkar announced the results of the negotiation talks between the parties.

Your comments:
Bravo. Golkar is a big party. It is ashamed to beg. Go forward.

Peter T.

The separation between SBY and JK will no doubt clearly benefit the Democratic Party. People have shown their unwillingness to vote Golkar.

People still associate Golkar with the late Soeharto. Golkar is still managed by those who earned their wealth under Soeharo and that time is past.

SBY and the Democrats seem to have clear vision of reforming Indonesia. The Democrats manned by many new and young political faces has the energy and the will to guide Indonesia toward a welfare state. The problem is the Democrats only gained 20.5 percent of total votes. To build a strong government, the Democrats must find a trustworthy coalition partner.

Widya Utama

JK must step aside and give Akbar Tanjung or Sri Sultan a chance to become VP alongside SBY. A party chairman must work within the party, not to be President or Vice President or both all at once.

Leaders of parties who have lost badly are grumbling. They are actually showing their true colors, they cannot face defeat. They should be sportive and wait for their turn in next election.

Meanwhile, the solution for non-registered citizens is that they should be allowed to vote using their identity cards or KTP.

It is bad if five million voters out of 170 million, have lost their rights to vote, but it should not to be used to justify a cancellation of the elections. It is human to err and the KPU must learn from their mistakes.

Gulzar
Jakarta

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