Aburizal lends plane to JK to campaign

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 06/20/2009 6:25 PM | Presidential Election

Presidential candidate Jusuf Kalla said Saturday that he had borrowed a Boeing 737-800 plane from businessman Aburizal Bakrie to campaign in Papua, Bali and Central Java.

"Yes, Ical lent me this plane, for free," Kalla told Antara state news agency at Sentani Airport, Papua. Ical is Aburizal’s nickname.

Aburizal, currently chief welfare minister, is known as one of the supporters of incumbent Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

However, when asked, Kalla said that Aburizal supported him. "He has supported me for a long time." Kalla is chairman of the Golkar Party and Aburizal is one of Golkar’s leaders.

Earlier, it was reported that Aburizal, together with House of Representatives Speaker Agung Laksono and former Golkar chairman Akbar Tanjung had proposed to organize an earlier-than-planned congress of the Golkar Party to topple Kalla.

From Papua, Kalla and his entourage flew directly to Bali to conduct another campaign on the tourist island on Sunday morning. From Bali, Kalla is scheduled to fly to Central Java to conduct a series of campaigns in the province.