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Jakarta governor candidates make debut in first debate
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The candidate pairs for the governor and deputy governor of Jakarta, Ridwan Kamil and Suswono (left), Dharma Pongrekun and Kun Wardana (center), and Pramono Anung and Rano Karno (right) gesture during the first election debate at the Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran, North Jakarta, on Oct. 6. (Antara/Aprillio Akbar)
The General Elections Commission’s (KPU) Jakarta office held the first debate in the city’s gubernatorial race on Sunday night, with all three candidates making the most out of their chance to promote their campaign platforms and win potential voters.
The debate, which ran for two-and-a-half hours at the Jakarta International Expo in Kemayoran, North Jakarta, saw candidate pairs exchanging ideas on how to transform Jakarta into a global city and improve its human resources.
Ridwan Kamil of the Golkar Party was the first candidate to introduce his campaign platform to the audience. Ridwan, a former West Java governor, is running on the ticket of a big electoral alliance, the Onward Indonesia Coalition (KIM), with Prosperous Justice Party politician (PKS) Suswono as his running mate.
“We see the future of Jakarta as an empty canvas that its future leaders and its citizens can all come together to color. We are united by one ideal, to revitalize Jakarta and to advance the city once it loses its capital status,” Ridwan said.
Independent candidate Dharma Pongrekun was the second to step to the plate. Dharma is a former police general who is running with academic Kun Wardhana as his running mate.
The pair highlighted several key goals in their campaign platform, which seeks to make Jakarta a global city that is safe and healthy for its citizens, to address the city’s traffic and flooding problems through better urban planning and to improve the quality of the city’s human resources.
The third candidate, Pramono Anung of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), said that he would put more emphasis on addressing unemployment in Jakarta by creating a job fair in each district of the city every three months.
