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Mudslinging begins between Ganjar, Prabowo supporters
Indonesia is set to have another divisive election, analysts say.
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President Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo (right), accompanied by Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto (left) and Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, inspects a mass paddy harvest in Lajer village, Kebumen regency, Central Java, on March 9. (Presidential Secretariat's Press Bureau/Laily Rachev)
While President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is reportedly pushing for the Prabowo Subianto-Ganjar Pranowo ticket in his attempt to create a unified front in the 2024 presidential election, elite supporters of the two presumptive presidential nominees are trading barbs on social media.
As “volunteer” groups increase their influence in politics by forging closer ties with their elite patrons, the brewing tensions between the two strongest pro-government candidates on social media may reflect an intensifying power struggle within the ruling coalition over the question of who will succeed President Jokowi come October 2024.
The latest mudslinging was triggered by the controversial peace plan proposed by the defense minister at the 2023 IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore earlier this month. Militant supporters of Ganjar on Twitter are believed to have instigated a scathing hashtag, #PrabowoMemalukanJokowi (Prabowo Embarasses Jokowi), in an apparent attempt to hurt Prabowo’s credibility.
The hashtag went viral on Twitter, with many political buzzers, whose social media content primarily revolves around promoting Ganjar and poking fun at the fact that Prabowo’s recent Ukraine-Russia peace plan was flatly rejected by Kyiv.
When the nation commemorated 25 years of reform in May, Ganjar supporters invoked the oft-repeated criticism that as a military officer Prabowo was involved in the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists.
