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The three Mallarangeng brothers on Wednesday defended their accusation against a presidential candidate, but failed to answer allegations that they were too dominating within President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s campaign team.

The three — Andi, Rizal and Zulkaranen, also known as Choel — told a press conference in their hometown of Makassar that they were 100 percent behind Yudhoyono’s bid for re-election next Wednesday.

But they only defended Rizal’s attack on Vice President Jusuf Kalla, who is also running for the presidency, over the distribution of materials they deemed defamatory.

Left unaddressed were criticisms from some factions within Yudhoyono’s campaign that they were playing too dominant a role.

Andi, who is also the president’s spokesman, only said that the brothers each had their respective roles. “When SBY [Yudhoyono] is attacked, it is my duty” to defend him, he said.

Yudhoyono is running in tandem with former Bank Indonesia Governor Boediono.

“When Boediono is attacked, Rizal will take the lead. Choel will face any attacks against [Yudhoyono’s] campaigns,” he added.

Rizal works for Fox Indonesia, a consultancy firm headed by Choel that is helping to manage Yudhoyono’s campaign. He is also the spokesman for the campaign team.

Rizal once declared his own intention to run as an independent presidential candidate but was forced to withdraw after the Constitutional Court ruled that candidates needed to be backed by a large political party.

He had demanded that Kalla apologize after photocopies of a news tabloid interview, which claimed that Boediono’s wife was a Catholic, were discovered during the vice president’s recent campaign in Medan.

Kalla’s camp insisted that they had no knowledge of the photocopies and filed a complaint with police, accusing Rizal of defamation.

Although Andi claimed the brothers regarded Kalla as their “own parent,” he backed his brothers. “We demand clarification from Kalla as the highest authority within his campaign team,” he said.

Also on Wednesday, protests were held in Makassar and Jakarta criticizing Rizal for defaming Kalla.