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Indonesia entered the presidential campaign season quietly on Tuesday, with candidates relying on advertisements and the media to lure voters to their camps.

But giant images of all of the candidates can now be seen beaming down from billboards throughout the city.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who is seeking his second term in office, did not move immediately into campaign mode, arriving on Tuesday afternoon from a visit to South Korea.

His vice presidential candidate, former central bank Governor Boediono, started his campaign with a dialogue with editorial members from the Jawa Post newspaper and later attended a private seminar.

State Secretary Hatta Rajasa, who heads Yudhoyono’s campaign team, said the pair would rely on dialogues as their main campaign method, rather than mass rallies.

“We really hope the dialogues can be conducted politely, to make people understand the visions and missions of each candidate,” Hatta said.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla decided to skip the campaign trail on the first day, opting to carry out his vice presidential chores at his office, said Yuddy Chrisnandi, a member of his campaign team.

Wiranto, Kalla’s vice presidential candidate, chose to receive guests and attend an internal campaign team meeting, said Yus Usman, another campaign team member.

But the pair’s wives dutifully took their place in public, visiting the popular Tanah Abang market in Central Jakarta. Mufidah Kalla and Rugaya “Uga” Wiranto went on a shopping spree, followed closely by a horde of journalists. The two women bought Muslim headscarves, or jilbab, at the market. Some traders, heartened by the purchases, promptly renamed the style of headscarves to “Mufidah-Uga” scarves.

Former President Megawati Sukarnoputri launched her campaign by flying to Lampung to attend the official inauguration of a new governor who has the endorsement of her Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Prabowo Subianto, who is running as Megawati’s vice presidential candidate, attended the inauguration of their campaign team for the Greater Jakarta area in West Jakarta, and later gave an interview to the private Metro TV station.

Endang Sulastri, a member of the General Elections Commission (KPU), said the presidential candidates and their campaign teams could only publish campaign ads and hold limited-audience meetings until June 10.

“They will then be allowed to hold mass campaign rallies from June 11 to July 4,” she said.

Choel Malarangeng, who chairs Fox Indonesia, a public relations company behind Yudhoyono’s campaign, said the president would launch his campaign tour of 11 different cities on June 12.

“The campaigning will be conducted on his days off,” he said, adding that Yudhoyono’s tour would end in Jakarta on July 4.
Kalla was still waiting to have his days of leave approved by the State Secretariat.

His leave cannot coincide with that of Yudhoyono, as one of them must remain in office at all times.