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1998 icon Amien Rais backs Prabowo
Politician Amien Rais, an icon during the 1998 reform movement to topple former president Soeharto, amplified a call on Friday to support Gerindra Party founder and presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto, Soehartoâs former son-in-law
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olitician Amien Rais, an icon during the 1998 reform movement to topple former president Soeharto, amplified a call on Friday to support Gerindra Party founder and presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto, Soeharto's former son-in-law.
Amien, the cofounder of the National Mandate Party (PAN) who now heads the party's advisory council, said that the party would forge a coalition with Gerindra to help Prabowo meet the minimum vote requirement to be nominated as a presidential candidate.
In exchange for the support, said Amien, the party would nominate its chairman, Hatta Rajasa, as Prabowo's running mate in the July presidential election.
'I always said yes [to supporting Prabowo]. I tend to support him,' said Amien, who was the mastermind behind the 'central axis' alliance in 1999 that paved the way for Abdurrahman 'Gus Dur' Wahid to become president despite the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) winning the election.
It was earlier speculated that PAN would join an alliance of medium-sized parties initiated by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's Democratic Party.
According to quick counts following the April 9 legislative election, PAN pocketed around 7 percent of the vote while Gerindra about 12 percent. The law requires parties to have a combined minimum of 25 percent of the popular vote to nominate a presidential candidate.
Although Amien said he had yet to meet with Prabowo to discuss the coalition, he was upbeat that Prabowo would be the right candidate to lead the country against the constraints of globalization advocated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
'Prabowo scores 9 out of 10 in terms of intelligence, firmness and stance on refusing to bow to outsiders,' said Amien.
According to him, Hatta had met with Prabowo eight times, while PAN was also communicating intensively with other Islamic-based parties such as the National Awakening Party (PKB) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) to join Prabowo.
PAN's election division head Viva Yoga Mauladi said, however, that the party was still waiting for the Democratic Party to set its coalition course.
'It's [Democratic Party] presidential candidate remains unclear. PAN is still waiting for their decision. But at the same time, we are also intensively communicating with Gerindra.'
Quick counts have indicated that the Democratic Party garnered around 10 percent of the vote.
Despite Amien's support for Gerindra, Hatta's coalition preference remains in question given his personal ties with Yudhoyono. Hatta's daughter married Yudhoyono's youngest son in 2012.
Political observer Arie Sudjito of Gadjah Mada University predicted that despite Amien's blunt support for Prabowo, PAN would prefer joining the Democratic Party's coalition over those formed by Gerindra.
'The coalition decision will surely depend on the course set by the Democratic Party,' said Arie.
Until now, the Democratic Party has yet to indicate any plan to form an alliance with Gerindra.
While PAN's support remains fluid, Amien has also floated the idea of an Islamic-based party alliance as a new axis that could nominate its own presidential candidate.
However, Amien admitted that it would be hard for the alliance to decide on a candidate, and thus he suggested throwing support behind Prabowo.
Quick counts found that the PKB, which heavily relied on the support of members of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's biggest Muslim organization, garnered at least 9 percent of the vote.
The United Development Party (PPP) is estimated to have gained 6 percent, while the PKS around 5 percent and the Crescent Star Party (PBB) 1.5 percent.
In total, the five political parties, including PAN, will garner around 30 percent of the vote, more than enough to collectively endorse a candidate in the upcoming presidential election.
PPP's senior members, however, have just recently eased internal infighting, and have forced chairman Suryadharma Ali to revoke his support for Prabowo.
Margareth S. Aritonang also contributed to this story
