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ndonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) presidential candidate Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo and his opponent, the Gerindra Party'€™s Prabowo Subianto, are ready to square off in the last televised debate, scheduled for Saturday evening.

The campaign teams of both candidates are confident that their candidates will come out victorious from the debate, with Jokowi himself saying that he is well-versed on the issues of food, energy and environment, the main topics of
the debate.

'€œOn the subject of food, I meet farmers every day. In terms of energy, we have a strong understanding of the issue,'€ Jokowi told reporters on Friday.

Jokowi said that aside from getting lots of sleep and eating well, he would not be doing anything out of the ordinary to prepare for the debate.

Prabowo'€™s camp said that the former three-star general'€™s experience as chairman of the Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) and the Association of Market Traders would serve him well against Jokowi.

'€œHe has a lot of experience in conducting activities alongside fishermen and farmers,'€ Prabowo campaign team member Haris Bobby Hoe said on Friday. '€œHe indeed has experience as well as aspirations and ideas on how to have food sustainability in the future.'€

He added that both Prabowo and his running mate, Hatta Rajasa, would complement each other in the debate, based on their joint performance in the first debate.

'€œThere have been small discussions between Pak Prabowo, Pak Hatta and team members on how the pair could work off each other,'€ Haris said.

Given the crucial role that the Saturday debate could play in influencing voters only hours before the cooling-off period kicks off on Sunday, the General Elections Commission (KPU), as organizer of the debate, has made thorough preparations for the event.

KPU commissioner Ferry Kurnia Rizkiyansyah said on Friday that the commission had coordinated with the host of the debate, as well as the media.

'€œWe have also met with a team of experts who designed the questions to elaborate more on the vision and mission [of both candidates],'€ he said.

The KPU has also picked Sudharto Prawata Hadi, an environmental expert who is also rector of Semarang-based Diponegoro University (Undip), as moderator for the debate.

The Bidakara Hotel in South Jakarta will be the debate venue, as it was for the last vice presidential debate, but this time the election body has decided to make a slight adjustment with the debate format given that both tickets will appear on stage.

The KPU has decided that for the last televised debate, the vice presidential candidates will make the opening statements.

Only in the last segment of the debate will the presidential candidates make their closing statements.

However, if there was time left before the debate wrapped up, the vice presidential candidates would have the chance to speak again, KPU commissioner Hadar Nafis Gumay said.

Apart from those changes, the format of the debate will remain divided into six segments, according to Ferry.

'€œThe first segment will comprise opening statements on the vision and missions of the candidates pertaining to food, energy and environment. The second segment is an elaboration of the vision and mission of both pairs,'€ he said.

The moderator will then ask both tickets questions in the third segment, while they will get the chance to challenge their rivals only during the fourth segment.

In the fifth and sixth segments, the candidates will elaborate on the statements made in previous segments.

Closing statements will also be made in the sixth segment.

'€œWhatever has not been said and needs to be discussed could be summarized in their closing statements,'€ KPU commissioner Arief Budiman said.

The KPU has also called on both camps to rein in their supporters so that no big commotion is made on live TV.

'€œThe [purpose of the] debate is to tell the public about the candidates'€™ platform, not to be a noise battle,'€ Arief said.