New coalition: The Greater Indonesia Movement Party’s (Gerindra) presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto (right) talks to clerics during a gathering in Surabaya on Sunday while former president Abdurahman “Gus Dur” Wahid (left) looks on. After securing Gus Dur’s support on Saturday, Prabowo began to garner support from a number of clerics in regions across Java, strengthening his position as a promising presidential candidate just three weeks before the legislative elections. (JP/Achmad Faisal)

Prabowo Subianto and his Greater Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party have secured the backing of Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid’s faction of the National Awakening Party (PKB).

“I was surprised by Gus Dur’s crystal clear statement of support,” Prabowo said during his visit to the Soko Tunggal Islamic boarding school in Semarang on Sunday.

School leader Nuril Arifin, a die hard Gus Dur supporter, jumped on the bandwagon;

“I will support him,” he said.

Speaking to thousands of PKB supporters at an informal gathering in Surabaya on Saturday, Gus Dur said supporters of the PKB and Gerindra should form a strong coalition to help Prabowo win the July 8 presidential election.

“We are here to introduce Prabowo to people in the province. Starting from this second, this minute and this hour, the pro-Gus Dur PKB is committed to supporting Prabowo Subianto in the presidential election,” former president Gus Dur said.

He acknowledged that some of the party’s talented figures “have been hijacked” by PKB Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar.

The PKB split in 2007 when the pro-Muhaimin camp won recognition from the Supreme Court and the government.  

Meanwhile, Zannubah “Yenni Wahid” Arifah Chafsoh, secretary-general of the pro-Gus Dur PKB faction, said her party supported Gerindra because of the nationalist-religious ideology shared between the two parties.

“Both parties share a similar political platform in fighting poverty and empowering poor families worst hit by the prolonged global economic downturn,” she said.

Prabowo, former chief of the Army’s Strategic Reserve Command (kostrad), said his party was out to bring major changes in the coming five years.  

Failing to win the support of the Golkar Party for his presidential bid in 2004, Prabowo, who owns PT Kiani Pulp and Paper in East Kalimantan, founded Gerindra as his political vehicle to contest the presidential election in July.

Prabowo has intensified personal and political lobbies and spent a large amount on a media campaign to promote his party and presidential candidacy.

Asked of his party’s political program in the coming five years, Prabowo, also chairman of the Indonesian Farmers and Fishermen Association (HKTI), said he and Gerindra were determined to develop a people-oriented economy to empower low-income people, mainly farmers, fishermen and teachers.

Yenny said Gus Dur had encouraged his followers to shift their support not only to Gerindra, but also to other parties which shared a similar vision, including the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the United Development Party (PPP).

She dismissed claims that Gus Dur’s supporters had been confused after the government had declared that it was the PKB’s Muhaimin that was eligible for the election.

“We are not being disoriented. We offer them many options, whether to be non-voters or to vote for other parties that they think would channel their aspirations,” she said.

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