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Prabowo offers pluralism in election campaign
Retired Army general and presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto has sent a clear message that pluralism and a people-based economy are what he is offering to the public ahead of the upcoming elections
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Retired Army general and presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto has sent a clear message that pluralism and a people-based economy are what he is offering to the public ahead of the upcoming elections.
In an interfaith-turned-campaign forum held Saturday in Jakarta, the Greater Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party leader said Indonesians were all “destined to be brothers and sisters” and that a pluralistic society was what he sought to build in the predominantly Muslim nation.
Prabowo said he was accustomed to pluralistic values, citing his experience while studying at the military academy in Magelang, Central Java, and his multifaith extended family.
“In the military academy in Magelang, we embraced multi-religious life. There was a mosque, a church and pura [Hindu temple] there,” Prabowo, a Muslim, told his 500 supporters from all 33 provinces gathered at the forum.
“My mother is Christian, and among my family there are Chinese and Western members.”
He added that throughout its history, Indonesia had remained a pluralistic nation, citing the use of “Indonesia Raya” (great Indonesia) as the national anthem, written by composer Wage Rudolf Supratman, a Catholic.
Saturday’s event, themed “Building Harmony in Building the Nation”, was organized by the Great Indonesia Brotherhood (Persira), an interfaith forum concerned with political issues, said Persira chairman A. Shephard Supit.
Shephard added Persira was an independent organization aimed at promoting religious harmony and pluralism in the country, and that it would partner with other groups upholding the same values, including Prabowo’s Gerindra Party.
Other figures speaking at the event included moderate Muslim scholar Dawam Rahardjo, business analyst Christianto Wibisono and Prabowo’s brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo, a businessman.
Also in attendance were the president of the World Council of Churches Rev. S.A.E. Nababan, and Benny Dutavira from the Indonesian Buddhist Association.
Prabowo also promised that if he were elected president in the July election, he would boost the country’s economic growth to between 10 and 15 percent.
A former chief of the Army’s Special Forces Command (Kopassus) and the current chairman of the Indonesian Farmers Association, Prabowo added he would improve the country’s agriculture sector, saying Indonesia was basically an “agrarian country”.
Recent polls conducted by various survey institutes show that Prabowo’s popularity is on the rise thanks to his massive and aggressive media campaign.
The latest findings announced Friday by the Indonesian Survey Institute showed Prabowo in third place with 4.3 percent of support from respondents, trailing only incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (50.3 percent) and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri (18.5 percent).
Prabowo’s presidential bid, however, remains overshadowed by his alleged role in past gross human rights violations.
While serving as Kopassus chief, Prabowo was widely blamed for masterminding the abductions of prodemocracy activists ahead of the ouster of Soeharto, his former father-in-law, in 1997-1998.
