Yudhoyono fumes over political deal speculation

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Tuesday angrily struck out at media reports of his alleged plan to replace Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in an attempt to end the prolonged Bank Century bailout saga.

According to the President’s official website (http://www.presiden-ri.go.id), the President told a forum in Madiun, East Java, that the alleged deal between him and Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie to replace Mulyani was “poor fiction”.

“This is exceptionally creative, but awful fiction. This [speculation] won’t benefit the people. This is the politics of fiction; they made up what’s not there,” he said.

“This is dirty politics, maybe they’re trying to play off the finance minister and the President. It was said I would replace her with someone with the initials AA. I don’t know who AA is,” he added.

Speculation is widespread AA refers to the head of the Fiscal Policy Agency, Anggito Abimanyu.

Yudhoyono also expressed concern the speculation could destabilize the Rupiah and disrupt the economy.