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'Reconcilable differences': Being on opposing campaign teams no problem for married couple

Even in a tense election year, political disagreements do not need to turn into fights to the death.

News Desk (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Wed, September 26, 2018

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'Reconcilable differences': Being on opposing campaign teams no problem for married couple Give peace a chance: President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (center), who is running for a second term, and his running mate Ma’ruf Amin (second left), along with presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto (second right) and his running mate Sandiaga Uno (right), release pigeons during a peace declaration for the 2019 election campaign at the National Monument in Jakarta on Sunday. With the declaration, the campaign period for the presidential election, scheduled for April next year, officially kicked off, pitting Jokowi once more against his opponent in the 2014 election. (The Jakarta Post/Wendra Ajistyatama)

E

ven in a tense election year, political disagreements do not need to turn into fights to the death. Just ask Garut regent Rudy Gunawan and his wife Diah Kurniasari, who are working on opposite sides in the 2019 presidential race.

Rudy, who was backed by the Gerindra Party during his run for the regency, is on the Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno campaign’s advisory board. Meanwhile, Diah, a House of Representatives candidate for the NasDem Party, is a member of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s campaign team in the region.

“Maybe it’s weird, or funny, but I allowed my wife [to be on Jokowi’s campaign team],” Rudy said, as quoted by kompas.com, adding that his wife had the same political rights as he did.

He explained that their political differences stemmed from the recent Garut regency elections, during which he was supported by a coalition of Gerindra, the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and NasDem. The latter party then asked his wife to run for the regency’s House seat.

“I could not be regent without NasDem, and NasDem now supports Jokowi,” he said, adding that being on opposing campaign teams had not affected his family life. “This can be a political lesson too, even though in the polling station [our choices] are different, it’s okay.”

Diah echoed his sentiments, saying that differences in political opinions were natural.

“[..] we have to support whoever wins, because they are the best this nation has,” she said. (kmt/swd)

 
 

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