Retired General Pramono Edhie Wibowo Joins Democrat Party

Jakarta (Antara) - Retired General Pramono Edhie Wibowo has joined ruling Democrat Party. "Frankly speaking four days ago I formally became a member of the advisory council of the Democrat Party," the former army chief of staff said on the sidelines of the party's national coordination meeting at Hotel Sahid here on Saturday. He said he was offered to join the party by the party's general chairperson, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after he retired from the army. Pramono, who is also President Yudhoyono's brother in law, said he decided to participate in politics after consulting his family. "My family told me to see if you will have time for the family. If I feel I will go ahead. So after I check it I am convinced I could spare time for my family," he said. Asked about the possibility for him to take part in a party convention to select a presidential candidate, Pramono said he could not as yet tell about it as he had just joined the party for a few days. "I have not yet decided about it," he said adding it was not nice for him to speak about it now as he had just joined the party. When opening the meeting Yudhoyono said that it was part of the party's efforts to consolidate ahead of the general elections next year. He said as he had promised during the party's extraordinary meeting recently he had so far always prioritized his duty as a president. He said several party posts that he had earlier held ha been given to other cadres that had capability. He referred to the appointment of Amir Syamsuddin as chairman of the party's honorary council and also EE Mangindaan as chairman of the advisory council and Syarif Hasan as executive chairman. Yudhoyono reminded that the 2014 general elections was not the party's ultimate goal nor the main target. (*)