Jakarta – Chairman of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura) Gen. (ret) Wiranto insisted the poverty rate published in the party's ads was the official figure issued by the World Bank.

"I don't want to be involved in a debate with President Susilo about the poverty rate, because we used official data from the World Bank," Wiranto told reporters on the sidelines of an event commemorating Hanura's first anniversary Friday.

The Hanura advertisement stated the country's poverty rate was 49.5 in 2007. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, however, said the country's poverty rate was only 16.5 percent in 2007, down from 24.2 percent in 1998 when the economic crisis hit the country. The President referred to data from the Central Statistic Agency (BPS).

"The most important thing is how to alleviate poverty in the country," said Wiranto. He said the ads had no political aims to discredit the government.