"As the President, he should focus on state affairs."Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should remain at the helm of chiefs of the Democrat Party`s supreme council, board of patrons and honorary council rather than nominating himself for party chief, an observer said.
"He`d better entrust the post of party chief to his confidant he can easily control. As the President, he should focus on state affairs," former rector of the Bandung-based State Islamic University (UIN) Prof Nanat Fatah Natsir said here on Thursday.
Natsir who is a professor of religious sociology suggested that Yudhoyono focus on serving out his second term of office which is less than two years away.
The President must also be consistent with his instruction to his ministers to focus on their state duties instead of being busy taking care of their respective parties, he said.
"Being a political party chief, he will have a lot of technical things to do. This will most likely disrupt the performance of Yudhoyono whose term of office as the President is less than two years away," he said.
Some party cadres who wish to nominate Yudhoyono for party chief have argued that he could take care of the party at weekend. But Natsir said it is not a matter of time but a matter of thoughts that will be divided to serve his tasks as the President and party chief.
"To manage the Democrat Party now, extra thoughts and energy are needed to address challenges facing the party. To improve the party`s image, Yudhoyono needs not become party chief," he said.
The Democrat Party will hold an extraordinary congress in the resort island of Bali on March 30-31 to elect its party chief, among others.
The Democrat Party faction in the House of Representatives (DPR) has thrown its weight behind Yudhoyono`s nomination for general chairman at the congress.
"Our consideration is that during his two terms of office as the Indonesian president, Pak SBY (Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono) has run his administration well," chief of the party faction Nurhayati Assegaf said at the parliament building on Thursday.
Under his leadership, the Indonesian economy grew at a faster pace, she said.
Even when the financial crisis hit the US and European economies, Indonesia managed to maintain its robust growth of above 6 percent, she noted.
"The Democrat Party is now in a state of crisis so it badly needs such figure as Pak SBY," she said.
Realizing that no party cadres expect the crisis, she said the party needs supports from its cadres and the public to bring normalcy to it particularly in the leadup to the 2014 general elections.
No rule bans the president from assuming the post of political party chief, she said.
Yudhoyono set up the Democrat Party with the ultimate goal of promoting the people`s living standard, she said.
"Now that the Democrat Party is in a state of crisis, all cadres pin their hope on SBY to restore the party so it can increase its electability and win the 2014 elections," she said.
(Reporting by Dewanto Samodro, editing by Suharto)
Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
