Call them polite, call them restrained, but the three presidential candidates again revealed their true colors as the battle for the nation's top job heated up over the weekend.
Megawati Soekarnoputri called President Susilo Bambang Yudho-yono (SBY) "arrogant" in a campaign rally at Pararea stadium in Garut, West Java on Sunday.
The former president attacked the optimism of Yudhoyono team's, which has been projected to win the presidency in one round.
"Win it in one round? I want to see him *Yudhoyono* say it. That is very arrogant," Megawati said, as quoted by detik.com, hinting at her suspicion the incumbent would need to use underhanded tactics to win in a single round.
The third presidential candidate, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, also touched on the one-round issue at a campaign stop in Semarang.
"Don't think only certain presidential and vice presidential candidates can win in one round. Other candidates have equal opportunity to win *in one round*," Kalla said, responding to questions from the editorial staff of local newspaper Suara Merdeka.
Yudhoyono did not specifically address the issue at his campaign event in Medan, but the head of his campaign team, State Secretary Hatta Radjasa, denied accusations the one-round election win was promoted by his team.
He said while the Yudhoyono-Boediono ticket would welcome winning the election in one-round, it was the public that wanted the election to finish in one round.
"We've never talked about that. It is the public and market players who want a one-round *election*. Maybe because it will save Rp 4 trillion *US$391 million* of state budget funds," Hatta said.
He rejected accusation the team would cheat to win in one round, saying it wanted to win with "dignity" and "respect".
Yudhoyono himself said before 2,000 supporters packed into Medan's Pardede Hall that he had often been the target of "black campaigns", including rumors that he would alter the country's philosophical foundation (Pancasila) and that he had already allocated certain ministerial seats to parties in his coalition - accusations he denied.
Kalla, meanwhile visited the offices of several local newspapers in Central Java before campaigning with his running mate Wiranto at Kota Barat field, Surakarta. Despite the fact Surakarta is Wiranto's hometown, the Kalla/Wiranto team is struggling for support in the area, which is as stronghold of support for Megawati.
On Sunday, Megawati toured Bandung and Garut, where she met with a number of figures. Her running mate Prabowo Subianto meanwhile appeared in Cirebon, where he had lunch with pedicab drivers, and Brebes, where he successfully garnered the support of local fishermen, with four branches of the Indonesian Fishermen Association naming him the Father of Bergala (Brebes, Tegal and Pemalang) fishermen during the Kluwut sea party.
Apriadi Gunawan and Blontank Poer contributed to the story from Medan and Surakarta.
