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SBY no show during state address, again
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Former president and Democratic Party chairman Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (front left) meets with Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto (front right) at Yudhoyono's residence in Cikeas, West Java, on Thursday, July 27, 2017. The meeting is believed to have focused on a possible alliance for the 2019 presidential election. (JP/Seto Wardhana.)
S
usilo Bambang Yudhoyono was the only living former president not to show up at the House of Representatives on Wednesday as President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo addressed the nation.
Former country leaders Megawati Soekarnoputri and BJ Habibie attended the annual meeting, while late president Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid was represented by his wife Sinta Nuriyah.
Ever since Yudhoyono handed the office to Jokowi in 2014, after 10 years in power, he has not attended the annual state of the nation address.
The House secretariat general claimed to have already invited all former leaders, including Yudhoyono who is a patron of the opposition Democratic Party.
Democratic Party lawmakers attending the event refused to comment on Yudhoyono's absence.
Last year, Yudhoyono preferred to spend his time in his hometown in Pacitan, East Java, instead of attending the state of the nation address.
Yudhoyono is known to have avoided sharing the same stage in public with Megawati, who is also the chairwoman of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), after ties between the two went sour after Yudhoyono decided to resign as one of her ministers to run in the 2004 presidential race, in which he defeated Megawati.
On Tuesday, Yudhoyono and Megawati were scheduled to speak at a discussion held by the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), however he arrived right after Megawati had already left. (ipa)
