Indonesia’s biggest rock band, Slank, has come out in support of presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo and his running mate Mahfud MD, apparently out of concern over President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s attempts to influence the race that will determine his successor.
After backing Jokowi in the last two presidential elections, the members of Slank declared on Saturday that they were supporting the Ganjar-Mahfud pair this year. The candidates are competing against presidential front-runner Prabowo Subianto and his running mate, Jokowi’s son Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
“It's very easy to choose [whom to support for] the next president these days by looking at the recent maneuvers,” said Slank’s guitarist Ridho in a press conference at the band’s headquarters in Jakarta. “For me personally, [we] cannot lose hope, and that’s why we put our hope in Ganjar and Mahfud.”
Ridho did not say what the maneuvers were or who the band felt was making them, but recently the Constitutional Court issued a ruling, under circumstances later determined by an oversight body to have been ethically compromised, that carved out an exception to candidate age requirements that allowed 36-year-old Gibran to run for vice president.
Jokowi is barred from running for a third term, but he has openly acknowledged that he is seeking to play kingmaker in the election and wants a candidate who will carry forward his flagship programs.
Civil groups and the camps of Prabowo’s two rivals for the presidency have objected to what they say is Jokowi’s undue marshaling of support for the Prabowo-Gibran ticket. This includes when, prior to the last election debate earlier this month, the President hosted a private dinner with Prabowo and met separately with two other party leaders in Prabowo’s camp.
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