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Batam (ANTARA News) - Former Speaker of the House of Representatives (DPR) Akbar Tanjung said he was ready to be mominated presidential candidate in the general elections in 2009.

"I have an intention to join next year`s presidential election," he said after addressing a national dialog held by a local non-governmental organisation in Batam on Sunday.

He said that as a Golkar party cadre, he was seeking an opportunity to join the presidential election by holding a convention.

"If there is a convention for this purpose, I will join," he said, adding that so far there is still no indication that Golkar pary will be holding a convention.

But if the party has no plan to hold a convention, he said he would seek another way, such as joining another party.

"But right now I cannot say which party, we still have to watch the developments," he added.

He said that a convention is an effective innovation of the Golkar party, and this mechanism needs to be developed.

"We can learn much from a convention, and it would promote the image of the party involved," he said.

Earlier in Batam, Akbar Tanjung rejected that a presidential candidate must have an academic title.

He said that good leadership is not only based on a higher education background, adding that the most important thing for a president is to have a vision for the future.

He also rejected the condition that a presidential candidate must not be older than 60 years of age.

He said that Indonesia does not need young people, but people who thoroughly understand the condition of the nation, and has the capacity and expertise to develop it.

"Well experienced people needed time to seek experience," he said.

He also said the right experienced person to lead this nation would be one whose leadership had been tested and proven.

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