P

resident Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is being further derided after he criticized the media for "twisting around" his statements in response to last Friday's bombings.

During a meeting of his Democratic Party on Wednesday night in Jakarta, Yudhoyono said the protracted polemic was due to the media's "distortion" of his statements.

"I'm concerned with what has been circulating in the media, *with* the polemic and discourse over my statements on July 17 in my capacity as president," he said.

"What happened is, what I said has been changed. In political parlance, it's being distorted or twisted."

Research Institute for Democracy and Prosperous State executive director Fadjroel Rachman said Thursday the criticism was an attempt to intimidate the press, and questioned Yudhoyono's statesmanship in light of his unwillingness to apologize for "giving the wrong information" after the bombing.

"After his tendentious and provocative speech to scare the public, he's now trying to intimidate the press," he said. "His semi-authoritarian attitude and unwillingness to be outdone are so pathetic and dangerous to our democracy."

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) executive Maruarar Sirait demanded Yudhoyono point out which parts of his statements had been taken out of context.

Yudhoyono read out the transcript of his Wednesday speech. He said his statements were "clear" and "unambiguous".

"This morning, I received so many questions; some have theories, some are worried that the terror attack has something to do with the presidential election. My response is, we shall not just throw allegations around. All theories and speculations have to be proven before the law."

He did not, however, read out the more contentious parts: "I have to say for the first time before the Indonesian public that throughout the 2009 legislative and presidential elections, the authorities gathered a number of intelligence reports.

"What I mean by intelligence reports are *those* on terrorists who used my picture for target practice ... Then there are plans to occupy the General Elections Commission on the day the final vote is announced.