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Prominent analyst joins Jokowi-Kalla camp
Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a prominent political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), a governmental agency for science and research, says he will support presidential candidate Joko âJokowiâ Widodo and his running mate Jusuf Kalla â who are backed by a coalition led by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the upcoming presidential election
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Ikrar Nusa Bhakti, a prominent political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), a governmental agency for science and research, says he will support presidential candidate Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo and his running mate Jusuf Kalla ' who are backed by a coalition led by the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) in the upcoming presidential election.
'It's okay for the public to no longer deem me a neutral analyst. I am not anti-military but I will never support a presidential candidate who has a history of human rights violations, including killing and kidnapping, during his service in the force,' Ikrar told The Jakarta Post on Saturday.
Speculation over Ikrar's political preference in the presidential race was triggered when he appeared at the Jenggala Center, a Jokowi-Kalla supporter base in Jakarta, last Wednesday.
Other political analysts and academics also seen at the center included noted University of Indonesia academics such as management and marketing professor Rhenald Kasali, public policy expert Andrinof Chaniago and politics lecturer Eep Saefullah Fatah, as well as diplomacy analyst from the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Rizal Sukma.
They had a meeting with Kalla which lasted more than two hours.
'We were invited to the center to give input to Kalla to help him address numerous issues that may emerge ahead of the July 9 presidential election,' Ikrar said.
Denying he had been hired by the campaign team, Ikrar said the academics and analysts had voluntarily come to the center to offer a helping hand.
'My part in the discussion specifically addressed rampant negative, even black campaigns against Jokowi-Kalla by the Prabowo-Hatta camp and suggested ideas on how to respond to them in an elegant way,' he added, referring to Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa, the Gerindra Party-led ticket that will contest the election with Jokowi-Kalla.
