232: Megawati's Long Shot
7th March 2003:
Even before the MPR General Session got underway again, it was already providing its share of highlights. The PPP’s Hamzah Haz arrived and, surrounded by his supporters, officially declared that his vote and his supporters vote would not be in favor of President Try Sutrisno. Instead, he and supporters would be directing their votes to Chairwoman of the PKPB Tutut Soeharto. It was a good thing that Hamzah was surrounded by his supporters for he quickly found himself in a yelling match with Treasurer of the PPP Rozy Munir with the latter threatening to turn violent. When Hamzah and his followers took their seats with the PPP, they asked for some security guards to stand close by.
When Chairwoman of the PNI Megawati Soekarnoputri arrived, she only just smiled enigmatically when asked when will she be nominated by the PNI as candidate for president and have that candidacy verified by the MPR.
Meanwhile, Chairwoman of the PKPB Tutut Soeharto did not depart from Grand Hyatt with all of the other PKPB Delegates. She departed from Cendana Street. The TPI, the television channel which she owned, showed footage of her bowing her head and being hugged by various uncles and aunts, the siblings and relatives of Soeharto and Madam Tien Soeharto, as she made her way out of the house. She hugged her husband Indra Rukmana as well as her children before departing.
With the escort of a police outrider, she arrived not long thereafter at the MPR Building. She did not answer much questions, only saying enough to express approval that Hamzah Haz was going to direct his and his supporters’ vote her way.
At the Presidential Palace, the President watched proceedings accompanied by Chief of BAKIN Ari Sudewo and OCDS Sugeng Subroto.
It was 8 AM precisely when Chairman of the MPR Matori Abdul Djalil accompanied by Vice Chairmen of the MPR Hartono, Basofi Sudirman, Nyoman Suwisma, Alex Litaay, Mario Carrascalao, and Edwin Soeryadjaya entered the MPR Building and all the doors are closed. The National Anthem was played with all 1000 MPR Delegates sitting down once the music has finished.
Dutifully, Matori banged the gavel to declare the session open and made a short speech to introduce the agenda that morning: the Presidential Elections.
“Thus far, the MPR has received and verified two presidential candidacies”, Matori announced “The first is Mrs. Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana who was nominated by the PKPB…”
Tutut smiled, nodded her head and waved when the PKPB delegates around her cheered.
“The second candidate is Gen. (Ret.) Try Sutrisno, who has been nominated by the PKPI, the PPP, and elements of the Regional Delegates”, Matori continued as the PKPI delegates cheered.
There was silence as Matori paused.
“The question I am now putting forward to the MPR is: are there any further candidates for the office of the President of the Republic of Indonesia?” asked Matori “As I promised yesterday, should there be any other candidates, their candidacies can be submitted now, I will verify it and they will be able to participate and contest the presidency.”
All eyes in the building now turned to the Chairwoman of the PNI Megawati Soekarnoputri. Megawati seemed oblivious to the attention on her and was chatting with Chairman of the PNI’s MPR Delegation Sutjipto, who was struggling ignore the MPR turning its eyes on Megawati.
“Candidacies…are there further candidates for the office of President of the Republic of Indonesia?” asked Matori.
Matori and the other Vice Chairmen of the MPR looked at Alex Litaay who represented the PNI and sat among them. Litaay looked like a man who had his mind resolutely on doing something though he did not seem to be enjoying doing it.
“You’re not serious are you?” asked Basofi with disbelief “What’s this game you’re playing?”
“What do you think your chairwoman is doing?” asked Hartono impatiently “You survived your headquarters being taken from you by force, you survived being locked out of the political system. All that so she can avoid the fight when it actually happens.”
Matori saw Litaay continuing to ignore the question and then took a deep breath.
“One final time, are there any further candidates for the office of President of the Republic of Indonesia?” asked Matori lifting up his gavel.
Megawati continued to chat with Sutjipto…
There was a loud bang of the gavel and all of the MPR Delegates as well as the members of the press gathered there shook with surprise, their attention having been so focused on Megawati.
“I declare nominations closed and there will be no further candidates”, announced Matori.
From the PKPI’s section, Edi Sudrajat looked at Megawati and the PNI’s section.
“What is she trying to do?” asked Edi.
“We’ll think about that later, right now we’ve got to get Try re-elected”, replied Chairman of the PKPI MPR Delegation Harsudiono Hartas who was sitting next to him.
“We therefore have two candidates for the office of President of the Republic of Indonesia: Mrs. Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana and Gen. (Ret.) Try Sutrisno”, announced Matori “A secret ballot will thus be required…I instruct the KPU to begin conducting the balloting and vote-counting process.”
Thus it was that one by one, each of the MPR’s 1000 delegates was called up so that they could cast their vote. At the corner of the MPR’s Plenary Hall a booth was set up for each respective MPR Delegate to cast their votes and a ballot box was set up for the respective MPR Delegate to cast their ballot before returning to their seat.
The atmosphere in the MPR Building among the MPR Delegates as this process got underway was, according to one observer, schizophrenic. The initial universal reaction when Matori had officially declared all candidacies close was one of shock that Megawati had decided to sit the contest out.
But shock had quickly changed to anticipation when there was a realization that Try and Tutut would now contest the presidency. After 5 years and a few months which had seen Try unexpectedly hold on the presidency, which had seen Tutut become Chairwoman of Golkar and be a thorn in Try’s side, and which had seen their maneuverings leading to Golkar breaking into two before dissolving, Soeharto’s Constitutional and Biological Successors were finally going to settle their score.
The only time this sense of anticipation was broken was when it came the turn for the PNI delegates to be called up to vote. The room became silent when it was Megawati’s turn to vote. But certainly she was out of the picture now…
For the PKPI and the PKPB delegates, anticipation quickly gave way to anxiety as they pondered the possibilities. Somewhere in the middle of the voting process, a wave of excitement swept through the PKPI Delegates. With Megawati out of the picture, their beloved leader and current president might just have more of an opportunity to be re-elected. While the PKPI became excited, the PKPB became anxious. They worried that Megawati not participating in the presidential elections would be to their opponent’s advantage and that Megawati had struck a deal with the President. Ultimately, there was one way to find out.
When all the MPR Delegates had voted, Matori instructed Chairman of the KPU HBL Mantiri to bring the ballot box to a table placed front and center where all of the MPR Delegates could see them. A whiteboard was set up close to it for the KPU to record the votes.
At Matori’s invitation, scrutineers from each of the delegations walked up to take their positions so they could act as witnesses to the vote. Sri Edi Swasono represented the Group Delegates while Liliek Hendrajaya (West Java) stepped forward for the Regional Delegates. ABRI sent Tri Tamtomo, Mahfud MD represented the PPP, and Marsillam Simanjuntak represented the PNI. Finally the PKPB sent Feisal Tanjung while, not to be outdone, the PKPI sent Wismoyo Arismunandar.
“You may start counting the votes”, Matori instructed the KPU officials.
The ballot box was opened and one by one the ballots were lifted out and the name written on it read out. The PKPI would cheer when the President’s name was called out while the PKPB would cheer when it was Tutut’s name.
But there was a third “name” being called out then votes being counted. The “abstains” were piling up, not enough to overtake the votes of the real presidential contenders, but enough for scattered frustrated groans to begins to be heard when another “abstain” vote was called out.
As the MPR moved deeper into the count, it was the PKPI that grew breathless. The President’s votes were in the lead, with Tutut’s giving chase and the “abstains” slowly piling up. A series of votes for the President got the PKPI to begin cheering hopefully each time his name was mentioned, but then…
“There are no more votes to be counted”, the counter declared.
---
The President remained quiet at the scene unfolding on his television, he only stood up from the sofa where he and his two friends had sat. He ruffled through some piles of paper on his desk. Remembering something he had read a few days prior.
he continued reading but stopped just as he got to the part about how if none of the two presidential candidates has a majority of votes in the MPR after three rounds, new candidates for the presidency would have to be nominated…
---
There was silence in the MPR room as the official counters began to tally the votes and plenty other unofficial counters both among the MPR Delegates and the press were doing the same.
“What happens now, Mas Yusril?” asked Tutut, turning to the legal expert in his entourage.
At the PKPB section, PKPB MPR Delegate Yusril Ihza Mahendra was bent over his copy of the Second MPR Resolution of 2003 Regarding the Second Amendment to the Second MPR Resolution of 1973 Regarding the Processes for Nominating and Electing the President and Vice President which was passed a few days prior. He wiped a nervous sweat.
“If the President does not get a majority of the votes, then both you and him will contest the presidency in a second round of voting”, Yusril explained.
“Then we’d best better get ready for that round of voting then”, said Tutut looking determined.
Chairman of the PKPB’s MPR Delegation Prabowo Subianto however, did not look satisfied. Yusril looked nervous…too nervous.
“What if no one gets a majority in this second round of voting?” Prabowo prodded.
“Then we go into a third round of voting, should that be proven to be necessary”, Yusril answered.
“And then what happens if no one still gets a majority?” Prabowo asked again.
---
At the PKPI’s section, there was a small huddle too. Marzuki Darusman and Oka Mahendra, who were the legal experts was explaining to Harsudiono Hartas, Edi Sudrajat, and Co-Secretaries of the PKPI Delegation Sarwono Kusumaatmadja and Siswono Yudohusodo.
“What do you mean we have to find another presidential candidate?” asked Edi “The whole idea of us being here is so that we can nominate him.”
“That’s what it says here, Mr. State Secretary”, explained Marzuki “If after three rounds of voting, there’s still no presidential candidate with a majority of MPR votes, there has to new presidential candidates and there will be another vote held.”
“So we have three shots to get President Try re-elected?” asked Siswono.
Harsudiono tapped Siswono’s arm and pointed in the direction of the Chairman of the MPR.
---
“Honorable Delegates, Honorable Delegates, may I have your attention, please?” Matori said to the microphone “The votes has been counted, it has been reviewed by the scrutineers and now I am ready to announce it to you.”
There was silence in the room.
“With 438 votes, Gen. (Ret.) Try Sutrisno”, read out Matori “With 374 votes, Mrs. Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana.”
There were murmurings around the MPR Building and Matori waited for these to die down.
“There are 188 abstentions”, announced Matori to scattered groans from the MPR delegates.
Matori looked around at the MPR building and waited for the noise to calm down.
“As there is no majority, another round of voting to elect the President of the Republic of Indonesia will be required”, Matori announced “I have determined that this second round of voting will be held tomorrow morning, 8th March 2003. Until such time, the MPR will be in recess. As there is no further business, I declare the MPR to be in recess until tomorrow…”
---
“Make that two, we have two more shots at getting the President re-elected”, Sarwono said “We just used up one shot just now.”
Edi massaged his head as he tried to figure out what was happening.
“My question is this: how come we didn’t see this coming?” Edi said “Nobody read the fine print? Where did we go wrong?”
“Everyone was way too focused on the articles saying that a presidential candidate has to win a majority to be considered elected”, explained Marzuki “We thought that was the big fuss the PNI was kicking. But that wasn’t the case, it turned out to be something else. But maybe there’s something deliberate in the way the PNI is doing these things.”
“So, you’re saying the PNI played a trick on us?” asked Edi.
“Well to be frank, they just played another trick on everybody here today by the Chairwoman of the PNI not nominating for the presidency”, Marzuki replied.
---
“What do you mean Mbak Mega not nominating is a trick?” asked Tutut.
“Three rounds of voting…if there’s still no candidates with a majority, new candidates will have to be nominated”, Yusril replied.
“Yes, I understand that”, Tutut replied.
“However, the Chairwoman of the PNI was never part of this vote”, Yusril continued “If the President, Megawati, and yourself go through three rounds of voting without there being a majority, then not only do the PKPB and the PKPI have to find a new presidential candidate to nominate, but the PNI does as well.”
“My question is, is it only the PKPB and the PKPI that has to find a new presidential candidate if there’s still no winner after three rounds of voting?” piped in Akbar Tandjung.
“No, the MPR Resolution doesn’t specify which MPR delegations have to find a new presidential candidate”, replied Yusril “It means if there’s no presidential candidate that gets a majority, nominations will be reopened again so that presidential candidates can be nominated and that includes for the PNI.”
“Unbelievable”, said Prabowo shaking his head after spending some seconds thinking through the possibilities.
“Yes”, continued Yusril “And because the Chairwoman of the PNI had not participated in the presidential elections as yet, she will qualify as a new candidate and will still be able to run.”
---
Megawati basked in her husband Taufiq Kiemas’ hug and handshakes from stalwarts like Sutjipto, Laksamana Sukardi, Kwik Kian Gie, and Jacob Nuwa Wea. They have stuck with her from the PDI days and if all turns out well in the next few days…the next few hours…
Megawati looked at Tutut being surrounded by her inner circle. Tutut seemed to feel Megawati’s eyes on her and shot a glance in the latter’s direction. Megawati smiled and stood up as she began to leave the MPR building.
Have you figured it out yet, Tutut? Make no mistake, I will take my shot at becoming the President of the Republic of Indonesia. But when I do take my it… both you and the President would have taken each other out of the equation.
---
Well, that’s Megawati’s game for you…
Please refer to Chapter 228 for Try actually reading the scenario that Megawati was going for but being too confused by all the legal language.
The whole concept of three rounds of voting and then new candidates would be required to be nominated for the MPR to vote on is based on articles 16-19 of this MPR Resolution https://www.hukumonline.com/pusatda...3c/ketetapan-mpr-nomor-vi-mpr-1999-tahun-1999
I think Megawati’s “story arc”, if you want to call it that, is such that after the 27th July Incident, it’s hard to avoid a situation where she doesn’t have her eyes set on the presidency. For this TL’s purposes, I’ve been aiming for Try vs. Tutut for the longest time ever but things look out of place if Megawati’s not in there somehow participating or taking either Try or Tutut’s side. It’s like whatever happens, Megawati is bound to have her shot at the presidency.
Even before the MPR General Session got underway again, it was already providing its share of highlights. The PPP’s Hamzah Haz arrived and, surrounded by his supporters, officially declared that his vote and his supporters vote would not be in favor of President Try Sutrisno. Instead, he and supporters would be directing their votes to Chairwoman of the PKPB Tutut Soeharto. It was a good thing that Hamzah was surrounded by his supporters for he quickly found himself in a yelling match with Treasurer of the PPP Rozy Munir with the latter threatening to turn violent. When Hamzah and his followers took their seats with the PPP, they asked for some security guards to stand close by.
When Chairwoman of the PNI Megawati Soekarnoputri arrived, she only just smiled enigmatically when asked when will she be nominated by the PNI as candidate for president and have that candidacy verified by the MPR.
Meanwhile, Chairwoman of the PKPB Tutut Soeharto did not depart from Grand Hyatt with all of the other PKPB Delegates. She departed from Cendana Street. The TPI, the television channel which she owned, showed footage of her bowing her head and being hugged by various uncles and aunts, the siblings and relatives of Soeharto and Madam Tien Soeharto, as she made her way out of the house. She hugged her husband Indra Rukmana as well as her children before departing.
With the escort of a police outrider, she arrived not long thereafter at the MPR Building. She did not answer much questions, only saying enough to express approval that Hamzah Haz was going to direct his and his supporters’ vote her way.
At the Presidential Palace, the President watched proceedings accompanied by Chief of BAKIN Ari Sudewo and OCDS Sugeng Subroto.
It was 8 AM precisely when Chairman of the MPR Matori Abdul Djalil accompanied by Vice Chairmen of the MPR Hartono, Basofi Sudirman, Nyoman Suwisma, Alex Litaay, Mario Carrascalao, and Edwin Soeryadjaya entered the MPR Building and all the doors are closed. The National Anthem was played with all 1000 MPR Delegates sitting down once the music has finished.
Dutifully, Matori banged the gavel to declare the session open and made a short speech to introduce the agenda that morning: the Presidential Elections.
“Thus far, the MPR has received and verified two presidential candidacies”, Matori announced “The first is Mrs. Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana who was nominated by the PKPB…”
Tutut smiled, nodded her head and waved when the PKPB delegates around her cheered.
“The second candidate is Gen. (Ret.) Try Sutrisno, who has been nominated by the PKPI, the PPP, and elements of the Regional Delegates”, Matori continued as the PKPI delegates cheered.
There was silence as Matori paused.
“The question I am now putting forward to the MPR is: are there any further candidates for the office of the President of the Republic of Indonesia?” asked Matori “As I promised yesterday, should there be any other candidates, their candidacies can be submitted now, I will verify it and they will be able to participate and contest the presidency.”
All eyes in the building now turned to the Chairwoman of the PNI Megawati Soekarnoputri. Megawati seemed oblivious to the attention on her and was chatting with Chairman of the PNI’s MPR Delegation Sutjipto, who was struggling ignore the MPR turning its eyes on Megawati.
“Candidacies…are there further candidates for the office of President of the Republic of Indonesia?” asked Matori.
Matori and the other Vice Chairmen of the MPR looked at Alex Litaay who represented the PNI and sat among them. Litaay looked like a man who had his mind resolutely on doing something though he did not seem to be enjoying doing it.
“You’re not serious are you?” asked Basofi with disbelief “What’s this game you’re playing?”
“What do you think your chairwoman is doing?” asked Hartono impatiently “You survived your headquarters being taken from you by force, you survived being locked out of the political system. All that so she can avoid the fight when it actually happens.”
Matori saw Litaay continuing to ignore the question and then took a deep breath.
“One final time, are there any further candidates for the office of President of the Republic of Indonesia?” asked Matori lifting up his gavel.
Megawati continued to chat with Sutjipto…
There was a loud bang of the gavel and all of the MPR Delegates as well as the members of the press gathered there shook with surprise, their attention having been so focused on Megawati.
“I declare nominations closed and there will be no further candidates”, announced Matori.
From the PKPI’s section, Edi Sudrajat looked at Megawati and the PNI’s section.
“What is she trying to do?” asked Edi.
“We’ll think about that later, right now we’ve got to get Try re-elected”, replied Chairman of the PKPI MPR Delegation Harsudiono Hartas who was sitting next to him.
“We therefore have two candidates for the office of President of the Republic of Indonesia: Mrs. Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana and Gen. (Ret.) Try Sutrisno”, announced Matori “A secret ballot will thus be required…I instruct the KPU to begin conducting the balloting and vote-counting process.”
Thus it was that one by one, each of the MPR’s 1000 delegates was called up so that they could cast their vote. At the corner of the MPR’s Plenary Hall a booth was set up for each respective MPR Delegate to cast their votes and a ballot box was set up for the respective MPR Delegate to cast their ballot before returning to their seat.
The atmosphere in the MPR Building among the MPR Delegates as this process got underway was, according to one observer, schizophrenic. The initial universal reaction when Matori had officially declared all candidacies close was one of shock that Megawati had decided to sit the contest out.
But shock had quickly changed to anticipation when there was a realization that Try and Tutut would now contest the presidency. After 5 years and a few months which had seen Try unexpectedly hold on the presidency, which had seen Tutut become Chairwoman of Golkar and be a thorn in Try’s side, and which had seen their maneuverings leading to Golkar breaking into two before dissolving, Soeharto’s Constitutional and Biological Successors were finally going to settle their score.
The only time this sense of anticipation was broken was when it came the turn for the PNI delegates to be called up to vote. The room became silent when it was Megawati’s turn to vote. But certainly she was out of the picture now…
For the PKPI and the PKPB delegates, anticipation quickly gave way to anxiety as they pondered the possibilities. Somewhere in the middle of the voting process, a wave of excitement swept through the PKPI Delegates. With Megawati out of the picture, their beloved leader and current president might just have more of an opportunity to be re-elected. While the PKPI became excited, the PKPB became anxious. They worried that Megawati not participating in the presidential elections would be to their opponent’s advantage and that Megawati had struck a deal with the President. Ultimately, there was one way to find out.
When all the MPR Delegates had voted, Matori instructed Chairman of the KPU HBL Mantiri to bring the ballot box to a table placed front and center where all of the MPR Delegates could see them. A whiteboard was set up close to it for the KPU to record the votes.
At Matori’s invitation, scrutineers from each of the delegations walked up to take their positions so they could act as witnesses to the vote. Sri Edi Swasono represented the Group Delegates while Liliek Hendrajaya (West Java) stepped forward for the Regional Delegates. ABRI sent Tri Tamtomo, Mahfud MD represented the PPP, and Marsillam Simanjuntak represented the PNI. Finally the PKPB sent Feisal Tanjung while, not to be outdone, the PKPI sent Wismoyo Arismunandar.
“You may start counting the votes”, Matori instructed the KPU officials.
The ballot box was opened and one by one the ballots were lifted out and the name written on it read out. The PKPI would cheer when the President’s name was called out while the PKPB would cheer when it was Tutut’s name.
But there was a third “name” being called out then votes being counted. The “abstains” were piling up, not enough to overtake the votes of the real presidential contenders, but enough for scattered frustrated groans to begins to be heard when another “abstain” vote was called out.
As the MPR moved deeper into the count, it was the PKPI that grew breathless. The President’s votes were in the lead, with Tutut’s giving chase and the “abstains” slowly piling up. A series of votes for the President got the PKPI to begin cheering hopefully each time his name was mentioned, but then…
“There are no more votes to be counted”, the counter declared.
---
The President remained quiet at the scene unfolding on his television, he only stood up from the sofa where he and his two friends had sat. He ruffled through some piles of paper on his desk. Remembering something he had read a few days prior.
he continued reading but stopped just as he got to the part about how if none of the two presidential candidates has a majority of votes in the MPR after three rounds, new candidates for the presidency would have to be nominated…
---
There was silence in the MPR room as the official counters began to tally the votes and plenty other unofficial counters both among the MPR Delegates and the press were doing the same.
“What happens now, Mas Yusril?” asked Tutut, turning to the legal expert in his entourage.
At the PKPB section, PKPB MPR Delegate Yusril Ihza Mahendra was bent over his copy of the Second MPR Resolution of 2003 Regarding the Second Amendment to the Second MPR Resolution of 1973 Regarding the Processes for Nominating and Electing the President and Vice President which was passed a few days prior. He wiped a nervous sweat.
“If the President does not get a majority of the votes, then both you and him will contest the presidency in a second round of voting”, Yusril explained.
“Then we’d best better get ready for that round of voting then”, said Tutut looking determined.
Chairman of the PKPB’s MPR Delegation Prabowo Subianto however, did not look satisfied. Yusril looked nervous…too nervous.
“What if no one gets a majority in this second round of voting?” Prabowo prodded.
“Then we go into a third round of voting, should that be proven to be necessary”, Yusril answered.
“And then what happens if no one still gets a majority?” Prabowo asked again.
---
At the PKPI’s section, there was a small huddle too. Marzuki Darusman and Oka Mahendra, who were the legal experts was explaining to Harsudiono Hartas, Edi Sudrajat, and Co-Secretaries of the PKPI Delegation Sarwono Kusumaatmadja and Siswono Yudohusodo.
“What do you mean we have to find another presidential candidate?” asked Edi “The whole idea of us being here is so that we can nominate him.”
“That’s what it says here, Mr. State Secretary”, explained Marzuki “If after three rounds of voting, there’s still no presidential candidate with a majority of MPR votes, there has to new presidential candidates and there will be another vote held.”
“So we have three shots to get President Try re-elected?” asked Siswono.
Harsudiono tapped Siswono’s arm and pointed in the direction of the Chairman of the MPR.
---
“Honorable Delegates, Honorable Delegates, may I have your attention, please?” Matori said to the microphone “The votes has been counted, it has been reviewed by the scrutineers and now I am ready to announce it to you.”
There was silence in the room.
“With 438 votes, Gen. (Ret.) Try Sutrisno”, read out Matori “With 374 votes, Mrs. Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana.”
There were murmurings around the MPR Building and Matori waited for these to die down.
“There are 188 abstentions”, announced Matori to scattered groans from the MPR delegates.
Matori looked around at the MPR building and waited for the noise to calm down.
“As there is no majority, another round of voting to elect the President of the Republic of Indonesia will be required”, Matori announced “I have determined that this second round of voting will be held tomorrow morning, 8th March 2003. Until such time, the MPR will be in recess. As there is no further business, I declare the MPR to be in recess until tomorrow…”
---
“Make that two, we have two more shots at getting the President re-elected”, Sarwono said “We just used up one shot just now.”
Edi massaged his head as he tried to figure out what was happening.
“My question is this: how come we didn’t see this coming?” Edi said “Nobody read the fine print? Where did we go wrong?”
“Everyone was way too focused on the articles saying that a presidential candidate has to win a majority to be considered elected”, explained Marzuki “We thought that was the big fuss the PNI was kicking. But that wasn’t the case, it turned out to be something else. But maybe there’s something deliberate in the way the PNI is doing these things.”
“So, you’re saying the PNI played a trick on us?” asked Edi.
“Well to be frank, they just played another trick on everybody here today by the Chairwoman of the PNI not nominating for the presidency”, Marzuki replied.
---
“What do you mean Mbak Mega not nominating is a trick?” asked Tutut.
“Three rounds of voting…if there’s still no candidates with a majority, new candidates will have to be nominated”, Yusril replied.
“Yes, I understand that”, Tutut replied.
“However, the Chairwoman of the PNI was never part of this vote”, Yusril continued “If the President, Megawati, and yourself go through three rounds of voting without there being a majority, then not only do the PKPB and the PKPI have to find a new presidential candidate to nominate, but the PNI does as well.”
“My question is, is it only the PKPB and the PKPI that has to find a new presidential candidate if there’s still no winner after three rounds of voting?” piped in Akbar Tandjung.
“No, the MPR Resolution doesn’t specify which MPR delegations have to find a new presidential candidate”, replied Yusril “It means if there’s no presidential candidate that gets a majority, nominations will be reopened again so that presidential candidates can be nominated and that includes for the PNI.”
“Unbelievable”, said Prabowo shaking his head after spending some seconds thinking through the possibilities.
“Yes”, continued Yusril “And because the Chairwoman of the PNI had not participated in the presidential elections as yet, she will qualify as a new candidate and will still be able to run.”
---
Megawati basked in her husband Taufiq Kiemas’ hug and handshakes from stalwarts like Sutjipto, Laksamana Sukardi, Kwik Kian Gie, and Jacob Nuwa Wea. They have stuck with her from the PDI days and if all turns out well in the next few days…the next few hours…
Megawati looked at Tutut being surrounded by her inner circle. Tutut seemed to feel Megawati’s eyes on her and shot a glance in the latter’s direction. Megawati smiled and stood up as she began to leave the MPR building.
Have you figured it out yet, Tutut? Make no mistake, I will take my shot at becoming the President of the Republic of Indonesia. But when I do take my it… both you and the President would have taken each other out of the equation.
---
Well, that’s Megawati’s game for you…
Please refer to Chapter 228 for Try actually reading the scenario that Megawati was going for but being too confused by all the legal language.
The whole concept of three rounds of voting and then new candidates would be required to be nominated for the MPR to vote on is based on articles 16-19 of this MPR Resolution https://www.hukumonline.com/pusatda...3c/ketetapan-mpr-nomor-vi-mpr-1999-tahun-1999
I think Megawati’s “story arc”, if you want to call it that, is such that after the 27th July Incident, it’s hard to avoid a situation where she doesn’t have her eyes set on the presidency. For this TL’s purposes, I’ve been aiming for Try vs. Tutut for the longest time ever but things look out of place if Megawati’s not in there somehow participating or taking either Try or Tutut’s side. It’s like whatever happens, Megawati is bound to have her shot at the presidency.
