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Jokowi-Prabowo meetings put Ganjar’s chances into question
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo is seen as more comfortable with Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto than Central Java Governor Ganjar Pranowo, an analyst says.
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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)
A Sunday lunch between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and the Gerindra Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Prabowo Subianto, has fueled speculation that the President is not ready to go all out in backing the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle’s (PDI-P) presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo just yet.
Despite being a member of the PDI-P and having attended numerous rallies for Ganjar, Jokowi, who had openly admitted that he was intervening in the hunt for his successor, has for the past weeks intensified his meetings with Prabowo.
Read also: Jokowi admits to intervening in hunt for successor, ‘for the good of the country’
The two politicians met during Jokowi’s visit to Malaysia, and just a day later, Jokowi invited Prabowo once again to the State Palace. Jokowi also invited Prabowo to attend the opening ceremony for a hospital in North Jakarta last week, despite the fact that Prabowo’s post as Defense Minister has nothing to do with it.
Most recently, Prabowo was reportedly in the midst of hosting 30 of the country’s media leaders at his private residence in Hambalang, West Java, on Sunday when he got the invitation for a lunch with Jokowi at Bogor Palace.
When quizzed by media leaders upon his return to Hambalang following the two-and-a-half hour closed-door meeting, Prabowo said the two discussed Prabowo’s recent Russia-Ukraine peace proposal, among other topics, but that most of their conversation was “confidential”.
Bey Machmudin, the Presidential Secretariat’s deputy for protocol, press and the media, has played down speculation that Jokowi's meetings with Prabowo solely centered on the 2024 presidential election.
