Markus Junianto Sihaloho, Muninggar Sri Saraswati & Febriamy Hutapea – The campaign team for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Boediono's presidential ticket demanded on Wednesday that rival candidate Jusuf Kalla clarify flyers circulated at his campaign event in North Sumatra that claimed Boediono's wife, Herawati, was a Catholic.
"We demand clarification from JK," said Rizal Mallarangeng, Yudhoyono's national campaign team spokesperson, during a press conference in Jakarta. "As a noble Bugis figure, why doesn't JK offer an apology to Boediono's wife. A clarification is important, even if JK didn't know about the [negative] campaign against Boediono's wife."
The campaign team plans to file a complaint with the Medan Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) against Kalla, his vice presidential running mate Wiranto and their campaign team over the issue.
During the press conference, Rizal played a recording of a television news report showing footage of a man distributing copies of a news clipping entitled, "Doesn't PKS know that Boediono's wife is a Catholic?" supposedly written by someone named Habib Husein Al-Habsy.
"We will accept other candidates launching negative campaigns because it's a process of political maturity," Rizal said. "But, this one is clearly slander because Boediono's wife is a Muslim who puts her religion beyond politics."
Responding to the accusation, Kalla's campaign team spokesman, Yuddy Chrisnandi, said that the campaign team was not involved in the distribution of the flyers.
Speaking from Kalla's campaign event in Medan, Yuddy said that he knew nothing about the issue. "However, if there was such an incident that is considered against the law, Panwaslu should investigate the case," he said.
Herawati visited the Darussalam Mosque in Bogor, West Java, on Wednesday and performed a midday prayer with a number of local Islamic study groups in a bid to brush aside the rumors.
"People said I am a Catholic. It is not true, but let it go. I have no intention to deny it. God knows my religious activities," she said.
While visiting the mosque, Herawati wore the full Muslim attire, complete with a headscarf, although she did admit that she did not normally wear that kind of clothing.
"About the headscarf issue, I think it's a personal thing," Herawati told the study groups, adding that her family observed prayers five times a day.
She said she would not mind if her husband's campaign team asked her to wear a headscarf for campaign purposes.
"If I was asked to wear a headscarf for photo shoots for campaign banners, I would entrust it to the campaign team," she said. "It's up to them. I support my husband's campaign team and whatever my husband does."