n a bid to get the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) support for his vice presidential candidacy, National Awakening Party (PKB) chairman Muhaimin Iskandar made a devotional visit to the grave of Marhaen, a farmer from Bandung, West Java, who reportedly inspired Indonesia’s founding father Soekarno to create a pro-people ideology called “marhaenism”,.
Accompanied by officials from the PKB’s West Java office, Muhaimin prayed in front of Marhaen’s grave in Kampung Cipagalo, Bandung Kidul on Tuesday.
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Muhaimin and the PKB officials wore red-batik shirts, saying this was part of his efforts to “seduce” the PDI-P into agreeing to partner him with incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the 2019 presidential election.
“How could you still say we have not been strong enough in showing our love for Bung Karno even after we have been willing to wear red symbols to show our deep love of ‘marhaenism’?” Muhaimin said as quoted by kompas.
“God willing, we can unite our struggle with the struggle of our PDI-P friends,” he added. Muhaimin said the PKB had goals that were in line with what had been dreamed about and fought for by Soekarno through his marhaenism ideology.
Muhaimin promised that together with the PKB, he would continue Soekarno’s dreams and support the marhaenism ideology in the interests of the poor people of the country. (sha/ebf)
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