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Gerindra: Increasingly popular opposition party
The Gerindra Party became the leading opposition party after the 2014 general election.
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Prabowo Subiyanto (center) smiles in the middle of crowd after he speak to supporters during the Gerindra Party campaign rally in Tabanan, Bali on Monday 17 March 2014. The Gerindra Party became the leading opposition party after the 2014 general election. (JP/Agung Parameswara)
T
he Gerindra Party became the leading opposition party after the 2014 general election. The April 17 elections will be the third time the nationalist party has taken part in national elections.
Cofounded in 2008 by former commander of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus) Prabowo Subianto along with his younger brother, businessman Hashim Djojohadikusumo, politician Fadli Zon and former deputy spy chief Muchdi Purwopranjono, the Pancasila-based political party ran for elections for the first time in 2009.
Gerindra is closely associated with Prabowo in the same way that the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) is with former president Megawati Soekarnoputri and the Democratic Party is with former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
Prabowo, who is challenging President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo in the presidential election for the second time, is linked to the New Order regime. He is the former husband of Siti Hediati Hariyadi, the daughter of Soeharto, the country’s second president and founder of the Golkar Party.
On its website, Gerindra says it aims to create prosperity, social justice and a nation based on nationalistic and religious values according to Pancasila and the Constitution, and which is politically, culturally and economically independent.
In 2009, Prabowo ran for vice president as running mate of then presidential candidate Megawati. The pair lost to the incumbent, Yudhoyono. In 2012, Gerindra and the PDI-P again collaborated to endorse Jokowi, then mayor of Surakarta, for the post of Jakarta governor. Jokowi won against his rival, Fauzi Bowo, who was backed by major parties, including Golkar and the Democrats.
In 2014, Gerindra parted ways with the PDI-P by nominating Prabowo to challenge the PDI-P’s Jokowi in the presidential election. Prabowo lost to Jokowi by a wide margin even though the latter was then a novice in national politics.
