Jakarta – Sri Mulyani Indrawati and Pramono Edhie Wibowo have been touted as presidential candidates from the Democratic Party following the President's statement about not grooming potential candidates.
Sri Mulyani is a former finance minister and current World Bank managing director, while Pramono is the Army's Strategic Reserve Command chief and also the President's brother-in-law.
Democratic Party patron Ahmad Mubarok said that Sri Mulyani is a national asset worthy of consideration. "It is yet not the time [to talk about presidential candidates]. I am only saying that Sri Mulyani is a national asset and that she is certainly worth considering," Mubarok told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
Mubarok said the country currently lacked leadership figures, but that Sri Mulyani could possibly be one.
Indonesian Institute of Sciences political analyst Ikrar Nusa Bhakti said that Sri Mulyani might be the Democratic Party's best bet to boost their popularity before the 2014 elections.
Ikrar said, however, that the problem was whether Sri Mulyani wanted to be a Democratic Party nominee or not. "When she was facing troubles with Aburizal Bakrie during the Bank Century case, there were reports that Sri Mulyani felt President [Susilo Bambang] Yudhoyono should have defended her, as her decisions under those circumstances were beneficial for the President," Ikrar told the Post.
He said the Democratic Party might be the only viable political vehicle for Sri Mulyani to run for the presidency in 2014, as many other major parties already have their own candidates.
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri, as well as her daughter Puan Maharani, who currently serves as a legislator, are widely seen as viable candidates from the party, while business tycoon and Golkar chairman Aburizal is a possible candidate.
"PDI-P may be a viable vehicle for Sri Mulyani if Puan can be pressured not to run for the presidency in 2014," Ikrar said. "Should Puan gracefully choose not to run in 2014, PDI-P is actually the best political vehicle for Sri Mulyani as she and the party never had any problems in the past."
Concerning the chance of the Democratic Party nominating Pramono as President and Sri Mulyani as his running mate, Ikrar said, "If Sri Mulyani doesn't run for the presidency, I think it's better for her not to run at all, no matter who the presidential candidate may turn out to be."
He added that Sri Mulyani will be nothing more than a servant or a spare tire to the President should she choose to run for the vice presidency.
Indonesian Survey Institute executive director Dodi Ambardi said that while Sri Mulyani had good leadership traits, such as integrity and innovation, she might have a hard time building her grass roots popularity. "No matter how you see it, only upper and middle-class people are familiar with Sri Mulyani," Dodi told the Post on Friday.
Contrary to Ikrar's opinion, Dodi said that he believed Sri Mulyani would not accept a nomination by the Democratic Party, adding that it could be the Democratic Party which might be having second thoughts about nominating her.(mim)