Mahfud Meets Golkar Chairman in Bali

Jakarta (Antara) - Two presidential candidates, Mahfud MD of the Nation Awakening Party (PKB) and Golkar Party general chairman Aburizal Bakrie, met in Denpasar, Bali province on Saturday to discuss issues, including the presidential election on July 9. "Yes, it's true, I was invited by Pak (Mr) Aburizal Bakrie to have lunch while discussing the state administration, politics, law, and the presidential election," Mahfud stated in an email received here on Saturday. Mahfud, one-time chairman of the Constitutional Court (MK), said they did not explicitly discuss the presidential and vice presidential pairs who will compete in the July 9, 2014 presidential election. According to Mahfud, it is reasonable to meet with politicians and presidential candidates of other parties, in accordance with his agreement with the PKB's general chairman Muhaimin Iskandar. "When I met Pak (Mr) Muhaimin last week, I was asked to communicate with the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), Golkar and the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra), and even Muhaimin did the same thing," Mahfud said. Thus, the meeting between Mahfud and Aburizal Bakrie was part of Mahfud's agreement with Muhaimin to continue communicating with other party's leaders, who will become presidential candidates. "The decision to coalesce is in the hand of the PKB executive board," Mahfud added. (*) Reporting by Budi Setiawanto