SBY Shakes Hands with Megawati, Democrat: Good Sign

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Democrat Party said it was delighted when its chairman-cum-sixth Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono or SBY shook hands with fifth Indonesian president Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is also chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

The moment took place after the funeral of SBY’s wife, the late Kristiani Herrawati, otherwise known as Ani Yudhoyono, at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery (TMP) on Sunday, June 2, 2019.

“We hope this is a good sign for the future,” Ferdinand Hutahaean, the Democrat’s chief of Advocacy and Legal Assistance Division, told Tempo on Sunday night, June 2, 2019. Ferdinand, however, declined to touch on the matter from the political standpoint. 

Read: In Memory of Former Indonesian First Lady Ani Yudhoyono

He added the moment would show to the people that harmony and hospitality would bring goodness to the nation.

Ani Yudhoyono passed away at Singapore’s National University Hospital on Saturday, June 1, 2019, at around 11:50 local time after battling blood cancer since February this year. She was laid to rest at TMP Kalibata’s Block M129.

Megawati’s presence at SBY’s wife’s funeral was deemed special as the former presidents were known to have had strained ties since the 2004 presidential race, in which both vied and Yudhoyono was elected president for the first time.

DEWI NURITA