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ublic scrutiny over vice presidential (VP) candidates Ma’ruf Amin and Sandiaga Uno has intensified following their candidacy announcements earlier this month. Many appear to remain doubtful about their competence, particularly when compared to other veterans in politics and civil service.

Coupled with controversies leading up to their nomination, the public has been left guessing what exactly convinced incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his contender Prabowo Subianto to choose these two figures. The question is then to what extent the running mates can contribute to the presidency, especially from political and economic points of view.

It seems Sandiaga provides two political and economic benefits in Prabowo’s candidacy. First, Sandiaga will help Prabowo embrace the younger generation thanks to his relatively young age and appealing persona. Around 40 percent of the electorate in 2019 will reportedly be millennials. Yet there is no concrete benchmark against which to measure millennials’ unpredictable behavior. Besides, there is no homogenous definition to translate the generation’s political preferences.

Second, the “campaign funds” amounting to Rp 500 billion (US$34.27 million) given by Sandiaga to each of Prabowo’s coalition partners, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN), signify his commitment to helping Prabowo fulfill his campaign’s logistical needs and the coalition parties to beat the parliamentary threshold of 4 percent. Such commitment is fundamental and logical, given the pragmatism characterizing Indonesia’s contemporary politics.

Furthermore, following his candidacy announcement, Sandiaga expressed his zeal in the economic realm, saying he and Prabowo are out to accelerate equality, mainly through economic independence, price stability and job creation. Thus Prabowo and Sandiaga will reportedly expand Sandiaga’s Jakarta signature program of One District One Center of Entrepreneurship (OK OCE) to the national level. The program, which aims to create 200,000 enterprises in five years, facilitates small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in conducting business and emphasizes entrepreneurial skills.

OK OCE aims to woo particular groups, such as rapidly increasing SME owners,. To attract the public, OK OCE is likely to be framed as realization of self-sufficiency as an antithesis to the current government’s appetite for imports.

Ma’ruf also provides both political and economic leverage. Ma’ruf is a figure that can transform Islamic customs into public ethics, which not only affects Muslims and non-Muslims but also business ethics. This contribution makes sense due to his leading role in the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI).

His presence in the country’s religious sphere is also undeniable, as evident in his involvement in many Islamic organizations. He is also the chief patron of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country’s largest Islamic organization.

Ma’ruf’s intellectual activism enables him to bridge differing Islamic organizations in Indonesia. This not only allows Ma’ruf to neutralize potential public outcry from both moderate and conservative Muslims against Jokowi’s alleged lack of Islamic credentials, but also embeds his political influence in many organizations, including conservative ones.

In terms of the economy, Ma’ruf aspires to foster the people’s economy, a concept that revolves around the idea of economic empowerment at the grassroots level. Such a concept is based on Ma’ruf’s belief that the trickle-down economy fails to flourish in Indonesia. Hence, Ma’ruf proposes that the country’s economic system must adopt a bottom-up approach by establishing business partnerships between small-scale, medium-sized and large-scale enterprises alongside the government. These partnerships aim to link santri, or students of Islamic boarding schools, businesspeople and the government.

Ma’ruf’s people’s economy illustrates how his ambition may contribute toward Jokowi’s political campaign. Not only is it aligned with Jokowi’s ultimate objective, namely addressing social inequality, poverty and unemployment by continuing his nine-point development program Nawa Cita, Ma’ruf’s extensive network of santri is hoped to expand Jokowi’s voter base.

Additionally, as his economic and political expertise is often questioned, Ma’ruf needs to step up his game as well promote his concept of a people’s economy.

In the past, MUI chief Ma’ruf has been unprepared to enforce the policy. His fatwa condemning bank interest in 2003, for instance, led to an economic mishap in the form of a bank run as a massive number of Muslims transferred their money from conventional banks to Islamic ones.

Ma’ruf’s objective of building a vast network between santri and large enterprises must adopt concrete, well-researched procedures. Failure to do so may indicate that the people’s economy is just a populist approach to win votes. A checkered past and questionable aptitude constitute the VP candidates’ impediments in proving their worth. Rather than assisting the presidential candidates in securing votes, wrong moves by the VP candidates may encourage people to embrace absenteeism instead.

Ma’ruf and Sandiaga have to stop relying on targeting particular groups — Muslim conservatives for Ma’ruf and the younger generation for Sandiaga — and improve their proposed programs. A more in-depth look at Ma’ruf’s and Sandiaga’s proposed policies show that both policies focus on a bottom-up approach. Now both policies look ambiguous in both ideas and implementation.