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Prabowo, Jokowi trade barbs

How to win their hearts: Presidential candidates Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (left photo) and Prabowo Subianto (right) showing their individual styles for winning over potential voters during campaign rallies Wednesday

Hans Nicholas Jong and Sita W. Dewi (The Jakarta Post)
Bandung, Medan
Thu, June 12, 2014

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Prabowo, Jokowi trade barbs How to win their hearts: Presidential candidates Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (left photo) and Prabowo Subianto (right) showing their individual styles for winning over potential voters during campaign rallies Wednesday. Jokowi was in Bandung, West Java, interacting directly with voters, while Prabowo addressed a rally in Medan, North Sumatra, one of his strongest support bases. (JP/Apriadi Gunawan) (left photo) and Prabowo Subianto (right) showing their individual styles for winning over potential voters during campaign rallies Wednesday. Jokowi was in Bandung, West Java, interacting directly with voters, while Prabowo addressed a rally in Medan, North Sumatra, one of his strongest support bases. (JP/Apriadi Gunawan)

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span class="inline inline-none">How to win their hearts: Presidential candidates Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo (left photo) and Prabowo Subianto (right) showing their individual styles for winning over potential voters during campaign rallies Wednesday. Jokowi was in Bandung, West Java, interacting directly with voters, while Prabowo addressed a rally in Medan, North Sumatra, one of his strongest support bases. (JP/Apriadi Gunawan)

Presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto told his supporters on Wednesday not cast their votes for a leader who pretended to be a populist and who tended to break promises, while his rival Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo said a leader with an affluent background had less empathy with the people.

In his campaign in Medan, North Sumatra, Prabowo was initially scheduled to arrive at the venue at 9 a.m. but only appeared at 12:30 p.m.

He was accompanied by top officials from his coalition, including Golkar Party chairman Aburizal Bakrie, Golkar advisory council head Akbar Tandjung, Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) chairman Anis Matta and PKS politician Gatot Pujo Nugroho, who is also the North Sumatra governor.

'€œWe will prove on July 9 [election day] that Indonesia will still have a leader who doesn'€™t lie to the people and who doesn'€™t pretend to be a populist while stealing people'€™s money,'€ he said.

After the campaign, Prabowo flew to Aceh to meet supporters.

During the campaign, Anis Matta told the audience to vote for Prabowo because of the latter'€™s handsome appearance.

Anis quoted a hadith (a saying or custom of Prophet Muhammad and his companion), which said, '€œIf you send me an envoy, send me the one with good looks.'€

After citing it, Anis turned people'€™s attention to Prabowo'€™s face.

'€œJust look at our presidential candidate'€™s face. He'€™s good looking and has the aura of a president,'€ he said.

Prabowo'€™s supporters, who were predominantly women, replied by saying they agreed with Anis'€™ statement.

Prabowo only smiled and nodded, before taking off his sunglasses.

Meanwhile in Bandung, West Java, Jokowi moved the audience by telling of how he struggled to make ends meet in his younger years.

He told of how the authorities had once evicted him and his family from their house without compensating them.

'€œI know where you are coming from. If you have one leader with a common background and another who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who will understand your plight better?'€ Jokowi asked the crowd, which repeatedly shouted his name.

Jokowi is the son of a carpenter from Surakarta, Central Java, while Prabowo is the son of Soemitro Djojohadikoesoemo, a top minister during the administrations of former presidents Sukarno and Soeharto.

Jokowi'€™s running mate Jusuf Kalla, who campaigned in Kendari, Southeast Sulawesi, took the time to assure the audience that Jokowi was a faithful Muslim.

'€œThere are voices suggesting that Jokowi is not a good Muslim. I can assure you that Jokowi is a good imam. And I bet he'€™s better than the one on the other side [Prabowo],'€ said Kalla.

Weeks before the presidential campaign was due to kick off on June 5, the supporters of both candidates started to question the opposing candidate'€™s '€œlevel of Islam'€.

In a separate event, Indonesia'€™s biggest rock band, Slank, held a free concert on Wednesday in support of the Jokowi-Kalla ticket at Parkir Timur Senayan in Central Jakarta.

Slank was joined by several other musicians under the umbrella group Revolusi Harmoni, including Kla Project, Krisdayanti, Trio Lestari and Yuni Shara.

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