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View all search resultsJokowi’s early support for Prabowo-Gibran reelection meets pushback
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Then-president-elect Prabowo Subianto (left) and vice president-elect Gibran Rakabuming Raka walk past a portrait of then-president Joko “Jokowi“ Widodo, the father of Gibran, during the plenary meeting of the General Elections Commission (KPU) announcing the 2024 presidential election winner in Jakarta on April 24, 2024. (AFP/Adek Berry)
F
ormer president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s call for his supporters to back his successor President Prabowo Subianto and Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s eldest son, for a second term has sparked pushback from some political parties in the ruling coalition.
Jokowi, who had leveraged his popularity to help Prabowo win last year’s election, told reporters last Friday that he had instructed his supporters to endorse Prabowo and Gibran for another term, saying this had been his consistent stance from the beginning.
His remark came after Willem Frans Ansanay, chairman of Bara JP, one of Jokowi’s volunteer groups campaigning for Prabowo-Gibran in the last election, said earlier this month that they had received instructions from the former president to ensure the success of the current administration for two terms.
Another supporter group ProJo also received similar instructions from Jokowi, with its secretary-general Handoko saying further that the commitment to support Prabowo-Gibran for two terms had been established even before the last election, and that Prabowo was aware of their stance.
Some political parties in Prabowo’s ruling coalition, however, said it was still premature to discuss Prabowo-Gibran’s reelection, in an apparent pushback against Jokowi’s early attempt to influence the next presidential election in 2029.
Among them are the National Awakening Party (PKB) and NasDem, which were once part of the administration of Jokowi. PKB chairman Muhaimin Iskandar ran for vice president alongside Jokowi’s critic Anies Baswedan on the backing of NasDem last year but he later pledged his support to the new administration of Prabowo after his defeat.
“Ojo kesusu [Don’t rush it],” PKB secretary-general Jazilul Fawaid said on Monday, referring to a Javanese phrase that Jokowi had often used to tell his supporters before he made clear who his preferred successors were in last year’s presidential election.
