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enior members of the People'€™s Conscience (Hanura) Party have expressed their disapproval over the party'€™s nomination of media baron Hary Tanoesudibjo as the running mate for Wiranto in the 2014 presidential election.

Hary, who only joined Hanura in February this year, is now the party'€™s chief patron and the head of the party'€™s election campaign team.

One of the party'€™s founders, Fuad Bawazier, said a presidential nomination was of great importance and should be decided at a national leadership meeting.

'€œI firmly object to the declaration of [Hary and Wiranto]. This is a strategic decision that will affect the party, so it should be made via a national meeting, not by a small group of people,'€ he said.

Another senior member of the party, Yuddy Chrisnandi, said that Hary'€™s nomination was not in line with the party'€™s constitution.

'€œThe declaration was made during a briefing for legislative candidates, not in a national leadership meeting. I think the nomination should be discussed and confirmed or rejected at the next national leadership meeting. We all agreed that we would nominate Pak Wiranto as our presidential candidate, but we have not yet discussed the vice
presidential candidate,'€ he added.

Arya Sinulingga, vice chairman of Hanura'€™s election campaign team said that party chairman Wiranto had chosen Hary because of his capacity to move the party forward.

'€œMost members of the party agree with this decision. Pak Wiranto previously discussed this with all Regional Representatives Council (DPD) members and they agreed with the decision to pair Pak Hary with Pak Wiranto,'€ he said.

Hary is a media tycoon who runs national television stations RCTI, Global TV and MNC TV through his media corporation, PT Media Nusantara Citra. Before joining Hanura, he left the National Democratic (NasDem) party following a rift with NasDem patron Surya Paloh.

Hanura, which was established in 2006, is losing its popularity among voters, based on a recent survey conducted by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI).

The survey, which involved 1,799 voters nationwide, ranked the party third-lowest out of 12 national political parties, with only 1.9 percent of potential votes. Meanwhile, the top-three places were dominated by big parties; namely, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) with 14.9 percent, the Golkar Party with 14.5 percent and the Democratic Party with 11.1 percent.

Hanura won 3.8 percent of the vote in the 2009 legislative election, surpassing the minimum threshold of 3.5 percent to secure seats in the House of Representatives. It currently has 3.2 percent of seats in the House.

Fuad questioned the significance of the declaration because based on the 2009 Presidential Election Law, only parties with 20 percent of seats in the House, alone or as part of a coalition, could nominate candidates to run in the presidential election.

'€œIt seems to me that the party is [being treated] like personal property that can be pragmatically sold to the highest bidder,'€ he said.

Political analyst Arman Salam of the Indonesian Survey Circle (LSI) contended that Hary'€™s nomination was to perhaps attract other parties looking to form a coalition.

'€œI think Hanura'€™s main agenda is to get enough public attention and to look good as a potential coalition ally for one of the larger parties, which has either netted the 20 percent alone or in coalition,'€ he said. (koi)