JAKARTA (Yosefardi) – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) and his Democratic Party have harvested harsh criticism due to the party’s disappointing maneuver ahead of a voting on the controversial Regional Election Bill (RUU Pilkada) in the House of Representatives (DPR) plenary session held on Thursday (September 25) evening.
Public criticism against SBY and the Democratic Party have been also launched through social media, including the US-based social media giant Twitter. The people criticized the outgoing president and his party by using the hashtags of, among others, #ShameOnYouSBY and #SBYKillsDemocracy on the Twitterland. The hashtag of #ShameOnYouSBY is now became a worldwide trending topic.
President SBY, meanwhile, as quoted by the president’s spokesperson Julian Aldrin Pasha, interestingly disappointed with the results of the voting. Julian said the president through the Democratic Party will file a judicial review against the newly Regional Election Law.
As reported earlier, in a voting on the controversial Regional Election Bill on early Friday, the Red-and-White coalition of losing president candidate Prabowo Subianto beat the coalition of President-elect Joko “Jokowi” Widodo with a landslide victory after the Democratic Party backed off from their decision to support regional direct election.
The Democratic Party disappointingly walked out from the House plenary session even though Jokowi’s coalition have fully agreed to support ten considerations proposed by the Democratic Party. Almost of the ten considerations of the Regional Election Bill proposed by the Democratic Party itself are actually already accommodated in the draft of the bill. (haryantos@yosefardi.biz)