Ex GAM members join Gerindra
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | National | Sat, March 23 2013, 4:30 AM
Former members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) have
joined the Great Indonesia Movement Party (Gerindra) and will support Prabowo
Subianto in the 2014 presidential election, the party has said.
Gerindra chief patron Prabowo Subianto
has approved the new lineup for the party’s local branch in Aceh, which
includes several former GAM members, including deputy Aceh governor and former
GAM leader Muzakkir Manaf (Mualem) as a patron, the party said in a statement
released on Friday.
Gerindra believes the former members of
GAM can help it win the election in Aceh.
The party has installed the former GAM
members in strategic positions, assigning TA Khalid as the chairman of the
Regional Representatives Council (DPD), Maulisman Hanafiah as secretary and Fadhlullah
as treasurer, the party said.
Gerindra is also recruiting Acehnese
activists, former bureaucrats, former Aceh Legislative Council (DPRA) members,
women activists and journalists.
Fadli Zon, the deputy chairman of
Gerindra, said he hoped the new leadership lineup in Aceh illustrated that the
party is all-inclusive. “We are optimistic about winning in Aceh,” he said.
