... was the fourth such meeting held by Wiranto with foreign ambassadors in the past one-and-a-half months... "Jakarta (ANTARA News) - General (ret) Wiranto, chairman of the People's Conscience Party (Hanura), met with British Ambassador to Indonesia Mark Canning at the party's headquarters here on Monday.
This was the fourth such meeting held by Wiranto with foreign ambassadors in the past one-and-a-half months. Wiranto met recently with ambassadors of Singapore, Pakistan and Iraq.
In his meeting with Ambassador Canning, Wiranto briefed him on the party's principles based on conscience which promotes truth, sincerity, fairness and responsibility values to the public.
In reply to the ambassador's query on the difference among parties in Indonesia which all adopt Pancasila as ideology, he said Hanura is a corruption-free party. None of nearly 1,000 Hanura members sitting in local legislative assemblies all over the country has been involved in a corruption case.
He said this is not the party's claim but is based on surveys, government officials' statements and NGOs' findings.
According to him, there are three major things to win the 2014 general elections, first, increasing the quality of democracy, second, enforcing law and order and third, enhancing the people's welfare. The three aspects must be carried out in a balanced way.
Hanura has also committed itself to increase international relations, said Wiranto who was during the meeting accompanied by the party's leaders Yuddy Chrisnandi and Bambang Soemarsono.
On the difference among the political parties, he said though they all adopt similar ideology, namely Pancasila, each of them has its significant platforms. But the more important thing is how they are able to respond to the people's needs, such as the availability of jobs, education and health facilities.
According to him, Hanura has its own uniqueness, namely the power of conscience as the basis of its ideology. This is an asset to compete with other parties in the 2014 elections.
Meanwhile, Ambassador Canning lauded Indonesia for its success to uphold democracy and maintain high economic growth amidst the global economic slowdown.
He saw the 2014 elections would change members of the House of Representatives (DPR) and the President and hoped the next leaders could continue the achievements reached by Indonesia today, particularly in democracy and economy.
On the presidential candidates, the ambassador said he did not support any of them but hoped the next president would be able to continue the country's achievements.
Ambassador Canning praised Wiranto for his democratic outlook although he has a military background, and pledged to establish cooperation between political parties in Britain and Hanura.
Canning, who was a political counselor in 1993-1997, said he realized the situation faced by Indonesia during the New Order regime and the role played by Wiranto as then minister of defense and chief of the Armed Forces.
As chairman of Hanura Party, Wiranto said he stated his stance that democracy is a point of no return and committed himself to promote democracy in Indonesia.
(M016/S012)
Editor: Ade P Marboen
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
