SBY Calls for Calm as Tension Surges after Elections

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's sixth president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) urged national figures to make efforts so as to soothe the political tension after the general elections.

“If there are fundamental differences, dialogues and meeting will surely provide good solutions to the nation and the country,” said SBY in a written statement on Friday, May 3.

The Democrat chairman conveyed the statement after meeting Sinta Nuriyah, Alissa Wahid, Mahfud MD, Dahlan Iskan, and figures from Gerakan Suluh Kebangsaan or the National Enlightenment Movement in Singapore. They visited Ani Yudhoyono, who was undergoing medical care at National University Hospital. 

Tension after the 2019 general elections continued to flare in the country with claims of victory from both camps, rampant allegations of electoral frauds and threats of people power in the coming months. 

Read: SBY Orders Party Members to Avoid Unlawful Acts after Elections

The Jokowi camp attempted to diffuse the tension when the incumbent president declared his victory at Plataran restaurant in Menteng, Jakarta. Jokowi said he would send an emissary to get in touch with the Prabowo camp. It was later known the person was Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.

However, Prabowo camp spokesman Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak said reconciliation was uncalled for as he claimed there was no clash between both parties.

“The question is, what reconciliation? Is there any conflict? There is none,” he said on Friday, April 26, 2019.

FIKRI ARIGI