Noticias

A rift within the Golkar Party between those supporting presidential candidate Joko "Jokowi" Widodo and running mate Jusuf Kalla, former Golkar chairman, and those toeing the party line and backing Prabowo Subianto is hurting the party, a Golkar senior member has said.

Golkar advisory council head Akbar Tandjung said the party’s fractured state was similar to what had happened in the 2004 presidential election when the party’s support was split into two factions, namely supporters of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono-Jusuf Kalla and Wiranto-Salahudin Wahid.

A police official said the National Police would deploy personnel grouped under the VIP task force to safeguard the presidential and vice-presidential candidates.

He said the personnel were highly trained and would perform closed and open security perimeters.

“The task force will also provide traffic and personal escorts with special vehicles,” brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar of the National Police said on Wednesday, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The Partnership for Governance Reform (Kemitraan) is working together with the Caucus of Female Parliamentary Members in Indonesia (KPP RI) to present the second "Women’s Leadership Forum for Women Parliamentarians in Promoting Women's Representation in Southeast Asia" event in Denpasar, Bali, from May 23 to May 24, 2014.

Women lawmakers from across the Southeast Asian region will attend the forum to discuss strategies for winning elections and also methods of voicing support for policies that uphold women's rights.

The emergence of Prabowo Subianto as a serious contender in Indonesia’s election this week means the United States faces the awkward possibility of having to welcome another Asian leader it had denied entry to because of alleged links to mass killings.

The situation has arisen days after Washington found itself having to change course and promise a visa to Indian Prime Minister-Elect Narendra Modi after his landslide election win. Modi was barred from the United States in 2005.

A Golkar Party official said the party intended to discipline members who broke ranks to support the Joko "Jokowi" Widodo-Jusuf Kalla ticket as Golkar had formally announced its support for Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa.

At the last minute, Golkar joined a coalition with the Gerindra Party, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), United Development Party (PPP) and National Mandate Party (PAN). The coalition accounts for 45.3 percent of seats in the next House of Representatives and 47.54 percent of votes cast in the legislative election.

Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie is reported to have signed an agreement with Gerindra Party chief patron and presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto, on the formation of a coalition between the two parties.

Tribunnews.com reported that the signing of the agreement, taking place shortly after the declaration of Prabowo and his running mate, Hatta Rajasa, as the coalition’s presidential and vice-presidential candidates today, was held at Aburizal’s residence in Menteng, Central Jakarta.

Jakarta. It was the worst-kept secret in contemporary Indonesian politics, and on Monday it was made official: presidential front-runner Joko Widodo has picked Jusuf Kalla, the former vice president, to be his running mate for the July 9 election.

“After some thinking and consultation with coalition party leaders, we have decided to choose Bapak Muhammad Jusuf Kalla to be my running mate,” Joko said in a brief declaration at the historical Gedung Juang building in Menteng, Central Jakarta, on Monday morning, where he was flanked by Kalla.

Indonesia’s presidential race isn’t until July. But there’s already one winner.

Basuki Tjahaja Purnama has taken over as acting governor of Jakarta, the first ethnic Chinese to do so.

A Christian, Basuki succeeds Joko Widodo who has stepped aside to run for the presidential election on July 9, which opinion polls suggest he will win. Basuki will automatically take over to complete Joko’s five-year term if he does win.

Indonesia’s Chinese make up only about 2 percent of the 240 million population.

Former vice president Jusuf Kalla will most likely be the running mate of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the presidential candidate nominated by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and its coalition partners, in the July 9 presidential election, a senior Golkar party official has predicted.

Golkar senior official Zainal Bintang said Kalla himself had directly told him that he had been appointed [by the PDI-P and its coalition partners] to be Jokowi’s vice presidential candidate.