By Andi Abdussalam
Jakarta, May 14 (ANTARA) - Democratic Party (PD) chief patron Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) has reportedly decided to pick Bank Indonesia (BI) Governor Boediono as his running mate in the upcoming July 8 2009 presidential polls.
The PD presidential hopeful's decision to run with Boediono, a true professional and technocrat, has sparked resistance from cadres of political parties in the PD-led coalition.
Cadres of the pro-SBY political parties said Yudhoyono's running mate should come from political parties or one who had political support. Observers share this opinion.
"Boediono is not the best candidate for SBY to run with. He should have picked up a figure from political party circles so that his government would have strong support from parliament," Alfitri, political observer of the Palembang-based University of Sriwijaya, said on Wednesday.
He said that with their present culture the Indonesian people could not yet accept a president or vice president who came from non-political party circles.
After all, in the political aspect, the naming of Boediono was not right because SBY did not take into account the consideration of the outside-Java representation.
"SBY and Boediono are from Java. In the political point of view, this is not good because it would not win the sympathy from people outside Java," political analyst of the University of Benkulu Ardilafiza said.
On the chance of Yudhoyono to win the presidential polls if he goes ahead with Boediono, Ardilafiza said that if the PD-led coalition remains solid with the existing political party supporters, he had a big chance to win it.
The political parties which had joined the PD-led coalition are the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), the United Development Party (PPP), the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Awakening Party (PKB). These parties resisted on Tuesday Yudhoyono's choice of Boediono, except PKB.
In the eyes of businessmen, Boediono is also not the best choice.
Boediono is not the right man to serve as vice president although he is an expert on economic affairs.
"From the macro point of view, Jusuf Kalla is better. (Boediono) may lack the courage to face the coalition of parties and legislators in the House because he has no political party support," Sofjan Wanandi, chairman of the Indonesian Entrepreneurs Association (APINDO), said.
He said that Boediono shared a similar character with Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. He tends to always adopt a wait-and-see attitude. "It is difficult for businessmen to meet him. He also tends to keep things himself," Wanandi said.
He said the appointment of Jusuf Kalla as vice president in 2004 was different from the selection of Boediono. Kalla signed a contract with Yudhoyono first on what he was going to do as vice president so that he became an active vice president.
He said that as a technocrat Boediono was the best because he had good experience and was an expert in monetary affairs but as a vice president his capabilities were rather questionable whether he would be active or not, or he would serve as a 'spare tire' such as the vice presidents during the era of president Soeharto.
According to Secretary General of the Inland Waterway Transport Services Association (Gapsasdap) Luthfi Syarief, Boediono, in his capacity as bank regulator was less firm. However if Boediono accompanies Yudhoyono as his vice president, the results of his work would be seen only after the government issued economic policies favorable to market players, and all these would depend on the national political situation.
"If the political situation is unstable, market players will pursue a prudent attitude. Economic policies could not be separated from political matters," he said.
Therefore, it was too early to judge whether the SBY-Boediono ticket was pro-market or not before they had become a real pair.
What is obvious is that whoever the president or vice president, parliamentary support would have a high influence. "So, everything must be conducive first before the market reacts," he added.
A different opinion was expressed by economic observer Emilia Hamzah of the University of Jambi. She said that Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Boediono if they paired up as presidential ticket will be able to reduce wasteful budget spending and restore Indonesia's economy.
"Boediono is a seasoned financial negotiator who is well-known in the economic world and believed to be able to reduce wasteful budget spending and to restore the country's economy," she said.
She said that Indonesia was now facing economic and poverty problems so that the naming of Boediono as a vice presidential candidate was expected to reinforce the president's economic team.
Boediono who is known to have produced a lot of people's economic concepts, if he wins the presidential polls, will of course take sides with the people.
The Bank Indonesia (BI) governor is also experienced as he was once finance minister, head of the National Development Planning Board and now governor of the central bank, she said.
She said that Boediono adopted a very efficient attitude so that his leadership was believed to be able to offset inefficiency and reduce wasteful budget spending.
Therefore, according to political observer Arbi Sanit of the University of Indonesia, Boediono is the correct figure to pair up with Yudhoyono.
"I think, Yudhoyono has made a smart choice because his government would become more able to face the impact of global economic crisis," Arbi Sanit said. ***1*** (T.A014/A/H-NG/A014 ) (T.A014/A/A014/A/A014) 14-05-2009 00:53:37
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