SBY campaign team drops 9 members

Incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's campaign team has dropped nine of its members because of their positions as officials in various state enterprises.

The members include Achdari (supervisory board chairman of state money printing company Peruri), Soeprapto (an independent commissioner of state telecommunications company PT Indosat), Umar Said (a commissioner of state oil and gas company PT Pertamina) and Sulatin Umar (the president commissioner of the state logistics agency, Bulog).

The move came following controversy over possible conflicts of interest facing the officials.

“We have dropped nine of our campaign team members who are also commissioners at state firms, except for Raden Pardede who decided to resign from his position as the president commissioner of the state-owned Asset Management Company (PT PPA) to focus on the campaign team,” Yudhoyono's campaign team chief, Hatta Rajasa, said Wednesday.

At the time the commissioners had been recruited, the team had been unsure whether they were under the same umbrella as state officials, who are banned from campaigning for any candidate under the 2008 presidential election law, Hatta said.

“It turns out state firm commissioners are also categorized as state officials,” he said.  (fmb)