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