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National Police officially confirmed on Tuesday that no evidence had been found to indicate a speech given by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that was televised before the start of the electoral campaign period was in violation of the Presidential Election Law.

“We have already summonsed several witnesses and we have concluded that what happened cannot be categorized as campaigning,” National Police Chief Det. Comr. Gen. Susno Duajdi told reporters, adding that police would drop the case.

He said the investigation found that the speech had only been for internal consumption for members of Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party.

“Actually this meeting was closed to the public and if it was aired on television, this was beyond the party committee’s authority. We will dismiss this case,” he said.

The complaint against Yudhoyono and his re-election team was filed by the Elections Supervisory Board (Bawaslu) on June 6.

It followed a speech by the president to members of the Democratic Party at an internal party meeting on May 20. A tape of the meeting was later broadcast on state-owned Televisi Republik Indonesia (TVRI) and private station Metro TV.

Police said they based their conclusions on the testimony of experts — University of Indonesia lecturer Indriyanto Seno Adji and Wahyu Sugeng Santoso, a member of the legal staff at the General Elections Commission (KPU).

Citing KPU regulations, the experts said that a campaign was an action to sway voters by offering a party’s vision and mission, orally or in writing, and that it must be attended by members of the public.

“All of the attendants at the time were Democratic Party members or their allies, like me, from the National Awakening Party [PKB],” party executive Andi Muawiyah Ramly said after being questioned by police on Tuesday. “SBY in his speech also said that what he said was not for journalists’ consumption,”

Another Democratic Party ally, Dedi Syahrir Panigoro from the Indonesian Democratic Vanguard Party (PPDI), also confirmed that the meeting had been for internal consumption only and was not a public event.

Bawaslu filed the complaint against Yudhoyono, his campaign team head, Hatta Rajasa, and television executives Erman Saragih of Metro TV and Purnama Suwardi of TVRI. Candidates were forbidden to campaign before June 2.

Bawaslu had argued that Yudhoyono’s speech contained a statement of mission, and thus was in violation of the law.