REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, PALEMBANG -- Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto has promised to execute the Trans Sumatra highway construction plan stretching 2,700 kilometers from Aceh in the western tip of Sumatra to Lampung province in the eastern part of the island.
"President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's program to construct the Trans Sumatra highway will be continued and accomplished," Prabowo said when meeting with noted local ulema and community leader Kemas Abdullah Alim Ali here on Thursday.
He added that he will also resume the programs of developing railways and expanding productive plantations to increase production of commodities, such as rice.
"This includes developing a bio energy program," he noted, adding that all this will be carried out to continue Yudhoyono's development schemes.
Prabowo also praised the leadership of Yudhoyono, who is calm, quiet and patient in leading the nation.
"It is not easy to manage this country. Our president is calm, quiet and patient, although he is insulted by various parties and interests," he said.
Indonesia will hold a free and democratic presidential election on July 9, 2014, which will be contested by only two pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates: Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa and Joko Widodo (Jokowi)-Jusuf Kalla (JK).
Prabowo Subianto is a retired military general and the chairman of Gerindra (Great Indonesia Movement) Party, while his running mate, Hatta Rajasa, is a former coordinating minister for economic affairs and the chairman of the National Mandate Party (PAN).
Jokowi is Jakarta's governor and a cadre of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), and his running mate, Jusuf Kalla, is a former vice president and a senior politician of the Golkar Party.
The Jokowi-JK pair is supported by five political parties: PDIP; the Nation Awakening Party (PKB); the People's Conscience Party (Hanura); the Justice and Indonesian Unity Party (PKPI); and the National Democratic Party (Nasdem) established by Surya Paloh, the owner of Metro TV and the Media Indonesia newspaper.
The Prabowo-Hatta pair is supported by Gerindra; PAN; the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS); the United Development Party (PPP); the Moon and Star Party (PBB); and the Golkar Party, whose current chairman is Aburizal Bakrie, the owner of TV One.
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