Ridwan Max Sijabat, Sentul – There have been few signs of concrete action by Democratic Party politicians during their two-day working meeting to repair the party's image that has been tarnished by graft allegations.
Instead, party chief patron President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and party chairman Anas Urbaningrum focused more on their concerns over what they called attacks on the party ahead of its 10th anniversary celebrations in September.
Addressing 5,300 party members, Yudhoyono acknowledged the party still had weaknesses but he again accused the press for using minor issues and rumors as their sources in the past two months.
"Despite its young age, the party has recorded two consecutive victories in the 2004 and 2009 general elections and I am convinced we can manage the problems and pass the test well," he said.
Yudhoyono admitted there were some party members who violated the party's code of ethics and the law and he vowed to take action against them. He also stressed the importance of party unity to face the "test" and said he would defend any "attacks" on the party. He also called on party members to be committed to implementing clean, "smart" and "polite" politics.
He said attacks on the party and the test it faced were linked to the "impolite" and "foolish" political behavior of a small group of party members, including former treasurer and fugitive graft suspect Muhammad Nazaruddin.
Apart from Nazaruddin, many other party members have been implicated in graft scandals, but have not been named suspects or faced trial. Several other members are serving prison sentences for their role in graft cases.
The corruption allegations implicating Democratic Party politicians have made headlines in the past few weeks, especially after Nazaruddin claimed he had funded Anas' winning bid to be party chair last year. Anas has repeatedly denied the accusation.
On Friday, Yudhoyono called on Nazaruddin to return to Indonesia, but later in the evening Nazaruddin told MetroTV in an interview he had evidence of the involvement by other party members in graft cases.
Anas said in his speech at the working meeting he was also concerned about the "attacks" on the party. "The test I face is far lighter than that faced by [Yudhoyono] and I will learn much from him about how to pass [this test]," he said.
There was almost unanimous approval of Yudhoyono's opening remarks by party officials, who said they felt encouraged to strengthen party unity and prepare for the 2014 general elections.
Jafar Hafsah, the head of the Democratic Party at the House of Representatives, said the party would rely on law enforcement officers to deal with law-breaking members and highlighted the importance of better relations with the media.
Deputy party chairman Johni Allen Marbun and legislator Angelina Sondakh – both of whom are implicated in graft cases – said they were not perturbed by Yudhoyono's statements, adding they placed their trust in the courts to prove their innocence.
However, there remain strong calls for Anas to step down. The secretary of the party's Central Java branch, Dani Sriyanto, interrupted the meeting and demanded Anas step down to save the party.
Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) political analyst J. Kristiady criticized the meeting, saying Yudhoyono's speech was mere rhetoric as the President had either failed or refused to punish wayward party members and to restructure the party and his administration to improve accountability to the public.