Jakarta – The ruling Democratic Party is probably preparing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's brother-in-law, Maj. Gen. Pramono Edhie Wibowo, for the 2014 presidential race, observers said Sunday.
Maj. Gen. Pramono, the Siliwangi Military Command chief, will soon be inaugurated as Commander of the Army's Strategic Reserve (Kostrad). Some observers believe that Pramono's rank promotion was part of Yudhoyono's technique to fast track his political career for the race for presidency.
Political observer Syamsuddin Haris of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) is one of those who believe in the theory.
"The problem is that Pramono is not part of the Democratic Party. He needs to join the party first in order to enter the 2014 presidential race," Syamsuddin told The Jakarta Post.
Pramono's prospective to represent the Democratic Party in the 2014 presidential bid was brought to the surface when the party's spokesman Ruhut Sitompul told a media outlet Sunday that Pramono could possibly be paired with former finance minister Sri Mulyani and be nominated as president and vice president candidates, respectively.
Ruhut said there would be a chance for the two figures to serve as alternative candidates to the primary party's nominee Anas Urbaningrum, the chairman of the Democratic Party.
Syamsuddin said the chance for Pramono and Sri to be elected as president and vice president in 2014 would be small, as the two were not affiliated with any political parties in the country.
"Pramono is a military figure, while Sri is an economist. In order for them to win the upcoming election, if they were nominated, the Democratic Party would need to prepare them as early as possible," Syamsuddin said.
Another of LIPI's political pundit, Siti Zuhro, also said the Democratic Party might be considering a political strategy to field Pramono to run for president. "It has been a nationwide phenomenon. We can see how some local regents prepare their wife, or even their second wife, for political succession," she said.
With regard to Purnomo's chance of being elected as president in 2014, Siti said 2014 would take elections to a new level that would open the door for non-military candidates and young political cadres to take on the challenges of leading this country.
"I think the era of military-affiliated forces coming into play in the presidential elections ended in 2009. The country is now seeing a different reality in which the public desires non-military candidates to become their new president," she said.
Meanwhile, legislators from the Democratic Party said the party was now focusing on how to support the Yudhoyono administration and make it successful.
Deputy chairman of House of Representatives Commission VI on trade, Agus Hermanto, from the Democratic Party, told the Post that the party had not discussed any plans related to nominating certain figures for the presidential race in 2014.
"That is just not our primary focus in the interim. We're now concentrating on how to support the President and his government achieve their goals," he said.
Another Democratic Party lawmaker Taufik Effendi, said: "We have never discussed such issues in any prior internal advisory council meetings. It is also important to note that this matter falls under the domain of the party's upper assembly," he said. (tsy)