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JAKARTA. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono admitted on Sunday that he had called for a meeting between himself and Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, to open cooperative channels between their two parties at the House of Representatives.
Commenting on his official Twitter account, @SBYudhoyono, the President said in order to launch the political cooperation, he and Megawati, as party chairs, should meet to end their decade-long standoff.
He blamed the failure to have the meeting before the House elected its new leadership last week as being behind his party’s decision to join defeated presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto’s Red-and-White Coalition.
The Democratic Party put forward one of its members, Agus Hermanto, for deputy House speaker alongside other representatives from the Red-and-White Coalition, leaving one of the coalition’s parties, the United Development Party (PPP), outside the leadership structure.
“The meeting did not take place at the critical moment. I only heard that Bu Mega would want to meet me ‘in time’,” Yudhoyono tweeted.
Yudhoyono also revealed that he met with president-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and vice president-elect Jusuf Kalla before the establishment of the House leadership, but he had rejected offers from both of them.
He said a meeting with Megawati was paramount to discuss the visions and goals of their respective parties before launching any kind of cooperation.
Jokowi’s coalition, which is led by the PDI-P, has faced a number of defeats by the Red-and-White Coalition. Aside from being denied a House leadership position, despite winning April’s legislative election, the PDI-P also failed to save direct elections during the deliberations on the Regional Elections (Pilkada) Law.
When the Democratic Party walked out of the voting plenary, Jokowi’s coalition found itself outnumbered by the Red-and-White Coalition, which called for local leaders to be elected by regional legislative councils (DPRDs).
