Only days ahead of the first presidential debate, candidate Prabowo Subianto and running mate Sandiaga Uno held their first town hall meeting in the Jakarta Convention Center (JCC) on Monday evening, laying out their campaign platform before their supporters.

Speaking before former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono — who is also chairman of the Democratic Party and an ally in Prabowo’s coalition — and other leaders of political parties, as well as hundreds of loyalists and some prominent figures, the pair unveiled their vision, mission and programs, focusing on pro-people economics, improving social welfare, ensuring law enforcement and democracy and strengthening the character of the nation.

The speech was delivered three days before the first presidential debate, which is slated to take place on Jan. 17 at the Bidakara Hotel in South Jakarta. The first debate is to be on law, human rights and terrorism.

“On this day, we will listen to the vision and mission of ‘Indonesia triumphs’ from the 2019 to 2024 Indonesian president, God willing,” said Sandiaga.

Prabowo responded that the victory, if he won, would not be Prabowo’s or Sandiaga’s, but “this is Indonesia’s victory”.

He said the first point of his vision would be on the economy and Indonesia should be able to produce its own aircraft and sea-going vessels in a bid to revive the country’s industrialization, which is then expected to provide jobs to local people.

“I am sure we can [produce them]. We want our next generation to become pilots, doctors, entrepreneurs and so on,” said the Gerindra Party chairman as about thousands of people in the audience cheered.

Prabowo also promised to give incentives to small and medium enterprises, establish dedicated banks for fishermen and farmers to ensure they could directly receive incentives and access to technology and provide legal certainty for drivers of both online ride-hailing services and conventional taxis.

“We should also fix the salaries and needs of our police, judges and prosecutors. If needed, [they] should be increased many times,” he said.

As his second focus, Prabowo promised to improve the quality of life and social prosperity of the people to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor.

He said he would raise salaries for teachers and other school staff, as well as for doctors and medical staff, so people could get better health services and education.

He also promised people with disabilities would get better infrastructure and be provided job
opportunities.

“We’ll also fix the management of the BPJS [Healthcare and Social Security Agency] program to prevent deficits. [This is] a country where many hospitals refuse BPJS patients because they have not been paid for months. The hospitals are also forced to reduce their quality of services,” Prabowo said.

The former general said he would ensure law enforcement would work fairly and accountably and democracy would be improved.

He emphasized that he would protect freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

He then called on all people to not readily persecute other people, particularly ulema.

“We should never disrespect our kyai, ulema and other religious figures,” Prabowo said.

Backed by two conservative Islam-based parties — the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) — Prabowo is close to conservative Muslim groups who often claim that President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration unjustly prosecutes ulema.

Prabowo also promised to make Indonesia a safe and comfortable country for the people by increasing the ability of the police to tackle cybercrimes, human trafficking, international drug trafficking and money laundering.

Finally, Prabowo and Sandiaga also promised to focus on strengthening the nation’s character through nation building.

Closing his more than one-hour-long speech, Prabowo said that if elected, he would continue the positive efforts of his predecessors, including those who worked with Jokowi and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri, the chairwoman of the ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).

Sandiaga, meanwhile, reported the results of his four-month campaign trips to more than 1,000 locations across the country, which included listening to complaints from people about the high cost of electricity and staple food.

The electoral roll holds the names of 192.84 million people for the 2019 simultaneous legislative and presidential elections on April 17 , according to the final voter list.

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