SBY FACING TWO RIVALS ON BLACK CAMPAIGNS

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, June 29 (ANTARA) - Presidential candidate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) so far seemed to be alone in the negative campaign war, receiving attacks from his two competitors, Megawati Soekarnoputri and Jusuf Kalla who almost never attacked each other.

        According to a survey, Jusuf Kalla, who pairs up with Wiranto (JK-WIN), launched most of his negative campaigns against SBY and his running mate Boediono (SBY-Boediono). At the same time, Megawati and her running mate Prabowo Subianto (Mega-Pro) also directed most of her criticism to the SBY-Boediono camp.

        "As an incumbent, it is just understandable if SBY became the common target of his two rivals," Executive Director of the Center for Islamic and Societal Studies (PPIM), Jajat Burhanudin, said on Monday referring to incumbent President Yudhoyono.

        Jajat Burhanuddin, however, regretted the fact that black campaigns have also colored the activities of presidential aspirants for the upcoming presidential elections on July 8, 2009. The black campaigns attacked persons, not their not programs.

        "The attacking camp questioned personal matters such as head scarves and religion. They did not reveal the weaknesses of their rivals' programs," he said

        The clandestine distribution of leaflet copies alleging that Boediono's wife is a catholic during a JK-WIN campaign in Medan recently is a case in point, no matter who is behind the acts.

        In response to the black campaigns, Yudhoyono said he regretted the many slanderous allegations and black campaigns that were made against him and his running mate Boediono in the run up to the presidential polls.

        Speaking in an electoral campaign at Bima Cirebon sports stadium on Saturday, Yudhoyono asked his supporters and sympathizers not to follow the example of the people who had spread the slanderous allegations and conducted black campaigns.

        "SBY and Boediono are attacked from various sides with material not based on tangible facts. We are concerned about this and I ask God to restore the good senses of the black campaigners so they will stop their acts," Yudhoyono said.

        He expressed hope that his supporters and sympathizers would shun such practices because it was a sin against God, democracy, and the people. "It is not good for them to reach their goal by all means. They should tell the people what is true, honest, and noble. Do not attack, slander, and discredit SBY by spreading untrue stories and turning religion upside down," he said.

        Yudhoyono's Democratic Party (PD) has earlier said it has devised a strategy to counter the various black campaigns about him and his running mate Boediono.

        "We are ready with a strategy to counter the black campaigns but it will be carried out without words one week before the July 8 presidential election," PD Associate Chairman Ahmad Mubarok said.

        He said the counter campaign would be conducted not only to respond to allegations on the non-Muslim status of Boediono's wife, but also to unnerve various other negative issues about the SBY-Boediono pair.

        However, in the on-going campaign for next week's presidential race, the Yudhoyono camp also launched negative campaigns, according to a survey conducted by the Strategy Public Relations (Strategy PR), a non-governmental organization.

        If the SBY-Boediono received 163 times negative campaign attacks since early this month, at the same time it has also launched similar campaign attacks 128 times.

        Director of Strategy PR Ali Nurdin said his organization had conducted a survey on 1,689 news items about negative campaigns published by print and on-line media. The subjects surveyed included the issues, sources and parties presidential tickets affected by the negative campaigns.

        The Strategy PR surveyed 1,689 news items published by eight Jakarta-based daily newspapers and three on-line media during the period of June 1 - 22, 2009.

        Ali Nurdin said that of the 1,689 news items analyzed, the SBY-Bodiono ticket received 163 times negative campaign attacks while it also launched attacks 128 times.

        The JK-WIN pair has launched and received negative campaign attacks 89 times while the Mega-Pro duo launched 78 attacks and received 67 times. About 52.1 percent of negative campaigns directed to the SBY-Boediono aspirants came from the JK-WIN duo while the remaining 45.4 percent came from the Mega-Pro pair.

        In the meantime, about 85.1 percent of the negative campaigns was directed to Mega-Pro came from SBY-Boediono while only about 3 percent came from the JK-WIN camp.

        Likewise, some 79.9 percent of negative campaigns were launched by the SBY-Boediono camp against the JK-WIN side wile only about 4.5 percent of negative campaign attacks were directed by the Mega-Pro camp.

        "This is clear that the Mega-Pro and JK-WIN camps almost never attacked each other. It is as if they cooperated to attack incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhono's camp," Ali Nurdin said.

        Nurdin said that negative campaigns were something relatively new in Indonesia's political sphere and all presidential contestants admitted they were disadvantaged by such a campaign.

        Even though, according to the survey, it also involved in negative campaigns, the SBY camp said it would not reiterate.

        "We are in a defensive position, and will not attack them back with negative campaigns. We just explain the matters. Our strategy is to promote our vision and mission by using equipment, and we will not resort to black campaigns," Hatta Rajasa, Yudhoyono's campaign team chief said.***1*** (T.A014/A/H-NG/a014) (T.A014/A/A014/A/A014) 29-06-2009 22:45:41