Thousands of members of the Chinese-Indonesian community gathered in Medan on Friday night to listen to Prabowo Subianto, who visited the North Sumatra capital for the first time as a presidential candidate.

In his speech, Prabowo spoke about water scarcity, which is predicted to be a major problem in many countries by 2025, according to a United Nations report.

 “Consequently, we must work harder to find the technology for clean water. Jakarta is also running out of clean water,” he said.

Rising sea levels due to climate change, he added, could prompt Indonesia to move its capital city out of Jakarta.

“I’m pretty sure what I'm saying will be headlined in all the newspapers and media outlets,” he said.

Event organizer Harti Hartija also gave a speech in which he expressed his support for the former general.

“We are hoping for economic improvement. Hopefully, pak Prabowo will be the next president,” Harti.

Prabowo’s campaign spokesman, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, said that North Sumatra was one of the main sources of political capital for Prabowo and his running mate Sandiaga Uno. According to an internal survey, around 65 percent of North Sumatrans currently support the pair.

“That's why we are now targeting to obtain more than 65 percent [of votes],” he added. (das)

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