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Palace Denies It’s Behind Talk of Ani for 2014
Camelia Pasandaran & Anita Rachman | January 05, 2011

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, left, Ani Yudhoyono and Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, right, during campaigning for the president President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, left, Ani Yudhoyono and Edhie Baskoro Yudhoyono, right, during campaigning for the president's second election in 2009. It has been suggested that it would be good for Ani to contest the 2014 polls with Aburizal Bakrie, the Golkar Party chairman, as her running mate. (Photo Antara/Widodo S. Jusuf)
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RedWine
10:25am Jan 5, 2011

It doesn't surprise me, but only to make me sad. If it does happen, it shows that the political system is not working ideally. The system should ideally can recruit potential national-level leaders, proven by their hands-on experience in leading at the lower level. I'm not personally against Ani, I'm just worried we are repeating history of Soeharto's era. One can laugh at me, being hopeful to have ideal situation in this pathetic country, but at least it is something a person should preserve, being hopeful and optimistic at least in our mind.

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The Presidential Palace has denied suggesting Ani Yudhoyono, the first lady, as a presidential candidate for the 2014 election.

The president’s spokesman, Julian Pasha, said on Tuesday that any talk of Ani succeeding her husband as president was simply “a discourse, aspiration or opinion that was privately conveyed.”

“It certainly didn’t come from Ani or anyone else in the president’s family,” he said.

Ruhut Sitompul, a spokesman for Yudhoyono’s Democratic Party (PD), had suggested on Monday that it would be good for Ani to contest the 2014 polls with Aburizal Bakrie, the Golkar Party chairman, as her running mate.

He said the Democrats would need a vice presidential candidate from a big party to smooth the way for Ani to become president.

“She could run with anyone as long as the other party was one of the big three,” Ruhut said. “Therefore, I’d prefer a running mate from Golkar, such as Aburizal.”

The three biggest parties in the country, based on the results of the 2009 legislative elections, are the Democrats and Golkar, which form the ruling coalition, and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), the main opposition party.

Ruhut said a vice presidential candidate from the PDI-P would do just as well for Ani if Golkar was not willing to share the Democrats’ ticket.

His statements echo similar remarks made recently by Taufik Kiemas, a PDI-P stalwart, that discussions are currently underway between the Democrats and the PDI-P with regards to sharing a ticket for the upcoming presidential elections.

However, Saan Mustopha, a deputy secretary general for the Democrats, denied his party has begun discussing the 2014 polls, saying the issue would only be addressed in 2013.

“We haven’t thought about it at all. From now until 2013 we’ll be working, not politicking,” he said. “If any Democrats are talking about the elections now, they’re not speaking on behalf of the party.”

Ruhut has previously earned the party’s ire for his outspoken ways, including suggesting that the Constitution be amended to allow Yudhoyono to run for a third term.