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Jokowi leaves Yudhoyono out in the cold
Jakarta Post - November 19, 2016
As of Friday, Jokowi had yet to show any sign that he would meet Yudhoyono, who has lashed out at his successor for making statements based on what he claims is false intelligence suggesting that he masterminded the Nov. 4 rally that ended in a riot in front of the State Palace.
Since the rally, Jokowi has met five party leaders on his political tour, including his former rival in the 2014 presidential race, Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto.
Jokowi said "political actors" had exploited the Nov. 4 rally, insinuating that his political enemies were using the rally to undermine his administration.
Jokowi's perceived reluctance to talk with Yudhoyono has sparked speculations that the former may believe the latter has been engaging in efforts to destabilize the nation.
Democratic Party deputy chairman Syariefuddin Hasan dismissed the speculation, saying that there was no need to question the party's commitment to maintaining peace and democracy in the country.
"We have done it for 10 years [while Yudhoyono was in office]," Syariefuddin said on Friday. "But, if President Jokowi wants to hear us, we are very open to it [a meeting]."
Other senior Democratic Party politicians, including Amir Syamsuddin and Roy Suryo, have said they are ready to attend a meeting, but only if Jokowi makes the initiative.
Relations between Jokowi and his predecessor became visibly tense days after the latter decided to field his son, Agus Yudhoyono, in the Jakarta gubernatorial race.
Agus is competing against former education and culture minister Anies Baswedan and incumbent governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama, Jokowi's former deputy when he served as Jakarta governor and arguably one of his closest allies.
Relations between the two worsened after the Nov. 4 rally against Ahok, which forced Jokowi to postpone his visit to Australia and to carry out political visits to the nation's armed forces and Islamic organizations, such as Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and Muhammadiyah.
The administration seems to have done little to ease tensions between Jokowi and his predecessor. In an apparent attack on Yudhoyono, several members of Jokowi's Cabinet held a press conference on the morning of the Nov. 4 rally to reveal that some 34 troubled electricity projects – which are part of 7,000 megawatts of carryover electricity projects from Yudhoyono's administration – posed a huge potential loss to the state.
Cabinet Secretary Pramono Anung said the Palace would let law enforcement bodies investigate possible corruption in the project.
Since assuming office, Jokowi has met Yudhoyono twice, including when the Democratic Party held a major congress last year in Surabaya, East Java. At that time, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri was absent, although the Democratic Party had invited her to the event.
Jokowi and Yudhoyono also met at the palace in late 2014, when Yudhoyono expressed support for the deliberation of a bill.
"It was different at that time [during the 2015 congress]; it was us who played the role of host of the event, and therefore we invited him there," Syariefuddin added.
Presidential spokesman Johan Budi said Friday that he had yet to receive any information about whether Jokowi would meet Yudhoyono.
Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto, who is also the patron of Hanura, one of the pro-government parties, refused to comment on whether the President needed to improve communication with Yudhoyono. But he added that, in politics, communication could be initiated at any time.
"I believe it is better for political figures to continue communication if the initiative is already there," Wiranto said, adding that all political leaders should understand that they had a part to play in building the country.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/11/19/jokowi-leaves-yudhoyono-out-in-the-cold.html.
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