Despite the blunder that his party's unaffected silence has caused, Democratic Party deputy chairman Andi Mallarangeng still refuses to confirm the vice presidential candidacy of central bank governor Boediono.
Repeating the party's statement for the nth time, Andi told the media to wait until Friday, when party chief patron, incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, is scheduled to announce the name of his running mate for the July 8 presidential race.
Andi also seems to play down the threat of four Islamic-based political parties to quit the coalition they have earlier agreed on after "surprisingly" learning about Boediono's candidacy.
The parties --comprising Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the National Mandate Party (PAN), the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Awakening Party (PKB)-- accused the Democratic Party of having no intention to establish good communication with them on the matter, despite their coalition agreement.
" Perhaps what they heard were incomplete information; perhaps some just reacted too quickly," Andi said.
"But, we've explained the matter to them. We had direct communication with leaders of each parties this afternoon, and God willing they can accept that," he added.
Andi denied accusation of his party's poor communication with the coalition partners, saying they had since the beginning agreed to let Yudhoyono decide his own running mate, in accordance to the "right practice of presidential system".
"All the parties have been allowed to propose names, and all have given names. They said they agreed to let Pak SBY decide who would be his running mate."
Andi reiterated that Yudhoyono would pick a candidate who was "acceptable" to all and complied five categories the incumbent President had made, including being "loyal" and "interest-free".
He said Yudhoyono's choice of a name was based on "scientific surveys" among different groups in the community, including the grass root, the middle class and the public figures.
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