SBY, JK trade claims over Aceh peace

Incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his rival Jusuf Kalla clashed again Monday over who could take the credit for resolving conflict in Aceh.

The SBY-Boediono campaign team criticized Kalla, the current Vice President, for his statements during a campaign speech to Aceh Party officials in the province that he had secured the Aceh peace agreement.

SBY’s campaign team claimed that Kalla’s comments had breached the political code of ethics.

“SBY has always talked about Aceh as a role model for the government’s success and not just him as the President. He implicitly acknowledged other contributions that were made during the peace talks and of course this included Kalla. Thus what Kalla has claimed about Aceh is still appropriate,” Bara Hasibuan, an expert in international relations and a member of the SBY-Boediono campaign team, said in an interview with TV One.

SBY himself did not personally respond to Kalla’s claims, keeping himself occupied in a series of open campaign meetings in the East Nusa Tenggara region.

Responding to criticism from SBY’s campaign team, Kalla who had just met with officials from Nadhlatul Ulama, claimed his comments were true.

“We are talking about actions based on a real situation, it is not about whether they are ethical or not,” Kalla told Kompas.com.

“Peace in Aceh did not come out of the blue. I worked day and night to pacify Aceh. Then someone would like to be presented the Nobel Peace Prize - I’ve never dreamt of winning the the prize myself,” he said.

Back to campaign trail, both SBY and JK had a quiet day Monday apart from a televised dialogue on TVOne.  

Previously, SBY and Kalla were involved in personality attacks, sparked by SBY’s choice of a businessman as his vice presidential candidate.

SBY claimed that businessmen were not suitable to lead the nation and could foster corruption in the government.

Reacting to the attack, Kalla in his campaign in Palu, Central Sulawesi, two weeks ago, said that a dubious leader would not be able to achieve advancements in the nation.

Separately, Theo Sambuaga, chairman of Commission I on information and foreign affairs at the House of Representatives called on both sides to stop politicizing Aceh’s peace.  

“I think it is inappropriate to fight over who deserves the most credit for the peace deal. What is clear is that the peace was the success of the administration of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as President and Jusuf Kalla as the Vice President. It was the success of the government,” he said.

Meanwhile, Megawati Soekarnoputri campaigned in Malang, strongly criticizing aid programs, which she said would jeopardize the mentality of the poor in the long term.

The national Megawati-Prabowo campaign team held a public rally in Makassar calling on people to support their people-oriented economic agenda.

Halida Hatta, the daughter of former vice-president Muhammad Hatta, said that Indonesia had not lived up to the expectations of Indonesia’s founding fathers.

“We have moved further from that ideal; we need Megawati and Prabowo to bring the concepts of our founding fathers, such as welfare for the people, back to Indonesia again,” she said.