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Rival parties threaten to dash Jokowi's inauguration

Jakarta Post - August 4, 2014

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Bagus BT Saragih, Jakarta – As the hearing on an election dispute at the Constitutional Court filed by the Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa ticket is about to commence, its supporters have bandied about plans to deligitimize the victory of rival ticket Joko "Jokowi" Widodo-Jusuf Kalla if they lose the suit.

Politicians from the Prabowo-Hatta camp plan to initiate an inquiry at the House of Representatives into the entire presidential election process, which they deem to have been "massively and structurally manipulated".

Gamari Sutrisno, a lawmaker from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), which supports the ticket, said that boycotting the inauguration of Jokowi-Kalla at the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), slated for Oct. 20, was "very possible".

Supporters of Jokowi-Kalla have strongly denounced the plan. "We are disturbed by such blind political maneuvers such as the plan to boycott the inauguration of president- and vice president-elect Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla," Hasto Kristiyanto, the deputy secretary-general of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), which leads the Jokowi-Kalla coalition, said in a statement on Sunday.

He called the plan to initiate a legislative inquiry a "reflection of the excessive ambition for power".

NasDem Party politician Ferry Mursyidan Baldan, also from the Jokowi-Kalla camp, shared Hasto's opinion. "Their move is merely proof of political immaturity that does not reflect the true intention of improving the election system," he said.

A legislative inquiry is a House prerogative to monitor the government that gives it the authority to summon and question any individual whose knowledge and testimony is deemed necessary to the subject it is probing.

One of the latest high-profile inquiries was launched in December 2009 to scrutinize the government's controversial decision in 2008 to disburse Rp 6.76 trillion (US$572.76 million) in bailout funds to the then-ailing Bank Century (now Bank Mutiara).

Analysts have suggested that the plan to launch an inquiry into the presidential election was merely aimed at creating political turbulence to disrupt Jokowi's victory euphoria and perhaps his first months in office.

Lawmaker Tantowi Yahya from the Golkar Party, which supports Prabowo-Hatta, said he was optimistic the inquiry would soon be launched, even before Jokowi's inauguration. His statement was made on the basis that, according to the result of the April 9 legislative election, political parties supporting Prabowo-Hatta control 75.2 percent of the current House seats.

"We will certainly convey our formal proposal in the first House plenary meeting after the recess ends on Aug. 14," he said.

Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) political analyst J. Kristiadi said the inquiry, if approved, would merely be a waste of energy. "Whatever the motive, I think the move will be useless given that the electoral margin reached more than 8 million," he said.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/04/rival-parties-threaten-dash-jokowi-s-inauguration.html.