Blontank Poer and Slamet Susanto, Surakarta, Yogyakarta – A duet between Megawati Soekarnoputri of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), and Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X has come closer to reality.

After meeting with the Sultan in Yogyakarta on Monday, Taufik Kiemas, chairman of the PDI-P advisory council, told a gathering of thousands of party supporters that it would need all their moral support to turn the Megawati-Sultan duet into reality.

"To realize the duet, we need moral support from all members," he said ahead of the party's two-day national working meeting, which will begin on Tuesday in Surakarta, Central Java, to decide upon the vice presidential candidate for Megawati.

Taufik, Megawati's husband and many say an important authority within the party, said all along that the relations between Megawati and the Yogyakarta governor had been well maintained, pointing to the fact that both leaders were Yogyakartan natives, figures in the reform movement and nationalists.

"I am very happy to be able to unite two Yogyakartans, my wife Megawati Soekarnoputri and my brother Sri Sultan Hamengkubowono. This is not my plan, this is God's work," he said.

Megawati and the Sultan, a member of the Golkar consultative council, would have a late night dinner to discuss the next steps. The Sultan was also invited to the national party meeting in Surakarta.

The chairman of the PDI-P's Yogyakarta branch Akhmad Djuwarto welcomed Taufik's speech, saying the duet of Megawati-Sultan should be brought into reality to steer Indonesia to a better position. "They are the ideal pairing to build the nation," he said.

Sultan, who declared to run for the presidency in October last year, said that he would come to Surakarta to honor the PDI-P's invitation. "The PDI-P is expected to continue to be a confortable home for democracy, for many ethnic and religious (elements) within the country," he said.

The Sultan, however, did not go so far as to directly say if he would accept the offer from the PDI-P.

In Surakarta, some of the party's figures expressed optimism that Megawati could defeat President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono in the presidential elections, pointing to the latest surveys showing the PDI-P could win the legislative election.

"Beside the victory of the party, which will win 25 percent of votes in the legislative elections, we have to select an important figure to accompany the chairwoman," Puan Maharani, the chairman of the party's national gathering, said Sunday night.

Besides the Sultan as the strongest contender, other contestants included Prabowo Subianto, chairman of the Greater Indonesian Movement Party (Gerindra), former Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, and People's Consultative Council (MPR) speaker Hidayat Nur Wahid of the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).

The national gathering, which will be attended by over 1,000 members from across the country, has invited the country's high-ranking officials, including Bank Indonesia governor Budiono, TNI chief Gen. Djoko Santoso, National Police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri and the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) chief Antasari Azhar to its opening ceremony.

But PDI-P officials have said the party would neither invite President Yudhoyono nor Vice President and Golkar Party chairman Jusuf Kalla. The PDI-P's committee for the election victory Tjahyo Kumolo said the gathering would only announce a short list of candidates for Megawati's running mate.

"The name of the final candidate for the party's vice president will be announced after we know the results of the April 9 legislative elections,' he said.

Many party's officials and observers have said that considering the poor popularity of Sutiyoso in surveys and the persistence of Prabowo in running for president, then the chances of either accompanying Megawati were fading.

Meanwhile, as the legislative election is fast approaching, PDI-P patience was stretched by the lack of any clear response from Hidayat and the PKS.

Observers have said the Megawati-Sultan duet had a chance to match the Yudhoyono-Kalla pairing, since many of Golkar's supporters were sympathic to the Sultan.

"Golkar's supporters will be divided between chosing Megawati-Sultan or Yudhoyono-Kalla," said Muhammad Qodari, executive director of the Indo Barometer pollster group.

He said it would be a rematch of the 2004 election when Kalla went his own way against Golkar to team up with Yudhoyono and when Wiranto got Golkar's ticket as presidential candidate.

"At that time, Golkar's supporters were divided. I think the upcoming election will see a similar situation if Megawati teams up with the Sultan," Qodari said.