Megawati to go all out, JK plans surprise for last-round debate

Erwida Maulia and Dicky Christanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 07/02/2009 1:35 PM  |  Headlines

Former President Megawati Soekarnoputri will go "all out", Vice President Jusuf Kalla is preparing a "surprise", while incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono - believed to be "superior" to his two contenders - has not specially prepared for the last round presidential/vice presidential debate to be broadcast Thursday night.

From five debate sessions, three are allocated to presidential candidates while the remaining two are for their running mates.

Campaign team member for Megawati-Prabowo Subianto, Ganjar Pranowo, said the team had as usual formed a special discussion group serving as Megawati's sparring partners to help her perform better in tonight's debate

"This group will help her look forward to the best way to answer questions thrown by the moderator," Ganjar told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.

He also said the team had suggested how Megawati could better explain her visions and missions and speak more clearly in order to make the people "understand" that her programs - if elected - were better than those offered by the other candidates.

"We have suggested Megawati go all out in explaining her programs, considering this will be the last debate."

From Kalla's camp, Poempida Hidayatullah refused to comment further but said the incumbent vice president had "mature preparation" for the third and last round of the presidential debate.

"I can only say that he has had fairly mature preparation, and there will be a surprise. Just wait for tomorrow."

Deputy chairman of Yudhoyono's Democratic Party, Anas Urbaningrum, said the incumbent had not specially prepared for the last round debate because he had already mastered the topic.

"SBY is of course preparing for the debate, but has no special preparation for that.

"Not only has he mastered the topic, he already has clear action programs on regional autonomy and democratization.

"SBY, we believe, is superior to the other candidates."

The third and last round presidential debate, to be broadcast live on several TV stations Thursday night from the Sarbini Hall in South Jakarta. The final debate will take the theme "Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia, Democracy, and Regional Autonomy".

The debate will be moderated by Pratikto, the dean of the Social and Political Scienses Faculty at the Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta.

Responding to critics over the lameness and lack of arguments in the previous four presidential and vice presidential debates, the General Elections Commission (KPU) said it would change the format of the last debate to create a more dynamic atmosphere.

KPU member I Gusti Putu Artha said the second session, out of three sessions, where the candidates conveyed their visions and mission statements would be scrapped.

"We will start with the debate session, which was previously placed in the third session," Artha was quoted as saying by Antara after attending a coordination meeting on debate preparation with the candidates' campaign teams.

Another KPU member, Syamsul Bahri, said the moderator had been asked to ask more interesting questions to heat up the debate.

"The questions will go into the heart of the matters and not their visions or missions."

He added the moderator would allow more time for the candidates to answer the questions, saying moderators in the previous debates had tended to talk too much, dominating the candidates.

Andra Wisnu contributed to the story from Jakarta.

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