- JAKARTA: Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Thursday that members of his family would not run for president in 2014, a move analysts say appears to be aimed at protecting his party as his own popularity begins to wane.
Yudhoyono, who won a second five-year term in 2009 by a landslide mainly for promises to eradicate corruption, has faced criticism for the slow pace of reform and for bribery scandals in the tax office, parliament and his own Democrat Party.
The 61-year-old president has been accused by some critics of wanting to build a political dynasty in the Southeast Asian country, amid speculation that his wife might run for the presidency in 2014 and his first son in 2019.
“My wife, I repeat, my wife and sons would not run for the presidency in 2014. Now I also a.m. not preparing anyone to become a presidential candidate in 2014,” said Yudhoyono in a speech, drawing applause from an audience of young entrepreneurs.
“Let the people and democracy do the talking.”
Under Indonesian law, Yudhoyono is banned from running again in 2014, but some analysts had been expecting him to nominate a chosen successor — just as former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva did last year after his two terms ended.
Political stability, together with booming domestic consumption and abundant resources, have been attracting portfolio and foreign direct investors to Indonesia, but Yudhoyono lacks an obvious successor.
Arbi Sanit, a political analyst at the University of Indonesia, said Yudhoyono needed to play down public concerns about a possible dynasty.
“He doesn’t want any antipathy toward his government,” Sanit said.
Yudhoyono’s oldest son Agus Harimurti is a Harvard graduate, and had been seen as a possible presidential candidate.
His youngest son Edhie Baskoro is a parliament member with the Democrat Party, and plans to marry the daughter of chief economics minister Hatta Rajasa, also chairman of the National Mandate Party and another possible candidate for 2014.
Critics say the marriage may see the two parties join hands in 2014, though they are likely to face tough opposition from the Golkar Party with its chairman Aburizal Bakrie another likely candidate.
The Democrat Party is in an uneasy coalition with Golkar, which often attacks the government in parliament.
Yudhoyono said last month that “unhealthy” political interests could hamper the government from achieving an ambitious plan to lift the G20 member to become one of the world’s top 10 economies by 2025.