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JAKARTA: Indonesia's main opposition leader, Megawati Sukarnoputri, called for free and fair presidential elections on July 8 as she held her last campaign rally in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Wearing matching khaki safari suits, Megawati and her running mate Prabowo Subianto, a former special forces commander, tried to fire up the crowd with nationalist rhetoric ending in cries of "Independence!"
The ex-president and daughter of independence hero Sukarno offered no detailed policy initiatives during her brief speech before a sea of supporters wearing the red and black of her Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP).
Instead she preferred to talk about democracy and identity in the context of Indonesia's transition from the 32-year rule of general Suharto, which collapsed in 1998.
"If we are able to (leave the Suharto era behind), God willing, then the pillars of Indonesian democracy could be even more embedded in the earth of Indonesia and democracy can go on for the future of Indonesia," she said.
Megawati also called on supporters to be alert to any signs of vote-rigging, saying they should "safeguard polling stations and polling boxes when they are brought to the sub-districts to be counted."
Most opinion polls put her far behind President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, a liberal ex-general who became the country's first directly elected head of state when he ousted Megawati in a landslide in 2004.
Her campaign performances have been lacklustre and she apparently prefers to let the fiery Prabowo do most of the talking despite his background as a human rights abuser in Suharto's "New Order" regime.
Prabowo slammed the government for allegedly selling the country out to foreign investors, calling Yudhoyono a closet "neo-liberal" and promising to return the government to the people.
"We are not a nation of servants, we have pride as a nation. We will see the rise of the Indonesian nation and not an inch of Indonesian territory will be taken (by foreigners)," he shouted.
The other candidate in the election race is Vice President Jusuf Kalla, of the Golkar party, who is trailing a distance third in opinion polls. - AFP/de
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