General Wiranto receives backing from Muslim Party
Jakarta (AsiaNews) The controversial retired General Wiranto, the Presidential candidate for Suharto's Golkar Party, has received the firm backing of the Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB) founded by former President Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid. PKB's full endorsement for Wiranto - once Suharto's aide-de-camp, protégé, and the former Indonesia Military Chief (TNI) - was announced by Gus Dur on May 26, after the General Election Commission (KPU) dropped Dur's own name as a presidential candidate due to health reasons.
Wiranto is running despite being indicted by UN-backed prosecutors for alleged war crimes in East Timor. National human rights campaign activists also strongly condemned him as morally unfit for his failure as the Military Chief (TNI) to crack down the social unrest of May 1998 that brought then former President Soeharto's resignation.
The nearly blind Gus Dur was considered unfit to campaign, but he had previously endorsed his younger brother Solahuddin Wahid, alias Gus Solah, to be Wiranto's running mate as the vice-presidential candidate. "The PKB executive board, in a plenary session, reached a decision to back Solahuddin Wahid as a vice presidential candidate from PKB in a ticket with Wiranto. PKB needs someone in the race," Gus Dur told reporters in Jakarta, Wednesday afternoon May 26, after chairing a special plenary session with PKB top executives. Solahuddin Wahid is the deputy of Indonesia's top human rights body (Komnas HAM).
Gus Dur added that his PKB Party would have withdrawn its support if he himself had succeeded in a legal battle to prove his ability to run. He was disqualified by the KPU last week.
PKB's Secretary General Arifin Junaidi stated that the PKB would hold a special meeting with the Golkar Party's top executives to make political deals. Asked by the press if the PKB would request ministerial positions in the next cabinet, the Secretary gave no clear answer. "We want a balance in the government and we want a binding agreement," he answered to direct questions.
General Wiranto is the official candidate for Golkar, the party that won most seats (21,6 %) in April's legislative elections. PKB, which has its deep roots in the country's largest Muslim organization, Nadlatul Ulama (NU), won 10% of the votes. The front-runner in the presidential race is former chief security minister and ex-general, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Current President Megawati Sukarnoputri is also standing. But NU's chairman KH Hasyim Muzadi has been becoming Megawati's running mate for the vice-presidential from Indonesia Democratic Party Struggle (PDIP).
The Golkar Party sees the PKB's support as crucial for Wiranto. It hopes that Solahuddin Wahid, the deputy chairman of NU, will bring votes, both from the party and from NU members, to count for almost 40 million of the entire population in Indonesia. (MH)
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