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SBY rants on Twitter condemning efforts smearing son's candidacy
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Denial: Former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono speaks in a press conference in Jakarta on Feb. 1. The Democratic Party patron has again gone to Twitter to respond to rumors involving himself. (Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)
F
ormer president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) was back ranting on Twitter to lash out at the alleged efforts orchestrated by the government to kill his eldest son's chances in the Jakarta gubernatorial race.
Just hours after former anti-graft czar and convicted murderer Antasari Azhar told a press conference that SBY might be behind the legal case that put him in prison, he took to Twitter to defend himself.
He tweeted on Tuesday that he believed the clemency granted by President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo to Antasari last month was politically driven to attack him.
He claimed that Antasari's statement made a day before Jakarta's voting day was aimed to defame him and spoil the chances of his son, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, being elected Jakarta governor.
"Aren't you satisfied enough in destroying my good name since November 2016 to crush Agus' electability and make him lose?" SBY tweeted, followed by "is Agus not allowed to run in the election? Has he lost this right guaranteed by the Constitution?"
"Don't lie, we all know," he tweeted, without mentioning any names.
He denied he initiated the murder of businessman Nazarudin—who Antasari had been convicted of murdering—and would take the allegations to court.
"I will take legal steps against Antasari," he said adding that he would make a statement to the press on the matter.
Previously, amid rumors that SBY was behind the two large-scale rallies last year participated by thousands of people to demand the prosecution of Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama for alleged blasphemy, the former president also went to Twitter to quash the rumors.
