Anas, SBY, democracy the winners in Democrat Party`s congress by Fardah

     Jakarta, May 24, 2010 (ANTARA News) - It turns out that the results of the Democrat Party`s just-ended Second Congress are victories for Susilo Bambang Yudhoyonon (SBY), and Anas Urbaningrum.
       And more than that, it was also a victory for the Democrat Party, the younger generation and democracy within the party in particular, according to some people.

        The Democrat Party`s second congress which was opened on Friday (May 21) and closed on Sunday (May 23) by Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, was participated in by around 1,750 people including invitees. They were among others 497 local board chairmen, 33 provincial board chairmen and central board members as well as the party`s organizational wings.
        A founder of the Democrat Party, Yudhoyono, the country`s current president, was reelected the party`s chief patron for the 2010-2015 term.
       Anas Urbaningrum, currently chairman of the party faction in the House of Representatives, was elected general chairman of the Democrat Party for the 2010-2015 term after a vote in which he beat two other candidates, Marzuki Alie, the present Speaker of the House of Representatives, and Andi Malarangeng, the current sports and youth affairs minister.
      In the first round of the race for the party`s top post, Anas gained 236 votes (45 percent), Andi Malarangeng 82 votes (16 percent) Marzuki 209 votes (40 percent) with two votes being invalid.
        In the second round which left out Andi, Anas got 280 or 53 percent of 530 votes and Marzuki gained 248 votes or 47 percent.
      Marzuki and Andi congratulated Anas and expressed their support for the newly-elected party chairman and believed Anas would be able to carry out the party`s mandate well.

Anas, former chairman of the Indonesian Muslim Students` Association (HMI), said his election to the party`s top post was the victory of the Democrat Party.

"This is a victory for the Democrat Party. Mr Marzuki Alie and Mr. Andi Mallarangeng are my colleagues. Both are two of the Democrat Party`s best cadres. We will always cooperate with them for the sake of the party`s progress," he said.

Anas said he was thankful to God that the election of the party`s general chairman ran democratically.

More than a victories for Anas and the party, the election of Anas to the Democrat Party`s general chairmanship was a victory for the younger generation, according to Yuddy Chrisnandi, chief of the People`s Conscience Party (Hanura)`s success team for general elections, said.

"I congratulate Anas on his election. My congratulations also go to the Democrat Party which has succeeded in opening a new chapter of changes," Yuddy said.

In his opening address before the party`s cadres, Yudhoyono called on the party`s cadres to uphold democratic values when a tense situation emerged.

He said as initiator and founder of the PD, he called on all cadres of the party to continue maintaining the dignity of the party and stick to good political morality.

Yudhoyono urged all components of the nation and political parties to jointly develop better political and democratic life in the country.

In his closing remarks, Yudhoyono congratulated Anas Urbaningrum.

"I hope Anas can lead the party in a better way than his predecessors," he said.

He urged all cadres of the Democrat Party to support the elected chairman in implementing the congress` action programs so that the party could become a strong and modern moderate party.

Yudhoyono reminded his audience that the congress was not the party`s final aim but just a process or even an early stage of the party`s next five-year program with the main target of winning the 2014 general elections.

Anas in his speech said his main task was to make the Democrat Party a bigger and modern party capable of bringing the Indonesian people`s hopes to fulfillment.

He thanked all congress participants for having contributed to the smooth conduct of the meeting. The party had through its congress managed to pioneer and develop a good democratic tradition, he said.

On a separate occasion, Angelina Sondakh, a young cadre of the Democrat Party who was secretary of Anas`s success team, said the new leader would strengthen the party`s regional chapters.

Anas, she said, had promised to strengthen the party`s regional chapters by pushing the decentralization process as part of the party`s strategy to win the grassroots` hearts and minds.

J Kristiadi, a senior researcher of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told Kompas daily, Sunday (May 23) that Yudhoyono and Anas were the common winners in the second congress, and the Democrat Party successfully showed and implemented democracy internally.

Born in Blitar, East Java Province, on July 15, 1969, Anas is a young , committed and polite figure, who still has a long political career ahead, he said.

However, Yudhoyono is also a winner, as the public will consider him a true democrat for his successful endeavor to promote a political process which was democratic, orderly and relatively clean within his own party, according to Kristiadi.

He even praised Yudhoyono as a smart politician for not supporting a certain candidate in the party`s chairmanship race, because if his favorite lost, his credibility would be damaged.

As for the party`s newly elected chairman, Anas said he was not the party`s best cadre but promised he would do his best to carry out his party leader tasks with the support of the party`s cadres.
(T. F001/HAJM/H-YH/P003)