Hatta plays down PAN presidential bid
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Tue, 08/24/2010 4:16 PM
National Mandate Party (PAN) leader Hatta Rajasa has refused to respond to the party’s bid to nominate him in the 2014 presidential election.
Hatta, who is the Coordinating Minister for the Economy, said he had never thought of contesting the top executive post, as he was focusing on efforts to meet the party’s target of winning 12 percent of the vote in the legislative elections in the coming four years.
“I have never thought about presidential bid. After all, it is still far off," Hatta said as quoted by Antara news agency at the PAN headquarters to mark the party’s 12th anniversary.
“My primary concern now is to build PAN to become a big political party.”
Hatta said he would also focus on state duties as a member of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s cabinet.
"I want to succeed as a minister," he said.
A number of PAN figures, including founder Amien Rais, have expressed their intention to nominate Hatta the party’s presidential candidate.
Yudhoyono, who won the last two elections by landslide, will be unable to contest the upcoming poll as the Constitution restricts presidential term to only two periods.
