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‘Prabowo is a rational man’, Jokowi aide says
The President appointed Luhut Pandjaitan to talk with Prabowo Subianto.
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Luhut Pandjaitan, Jokowi’s close aide who was assigned by the incumbent to bridge communications with Prabowo, has called for political bigwigs, including those in the rival camp, to get in control of their emotions and think with a clear mind. (Antara/Puspa Perwitasari)
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mid political tension surrounding the election results, an aide of incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has jumped into the fray and called for the Prabowo Subianto camp to refrain from further ruffling feathers as a real vote count of the presidential election is underway.
Luhut Pandjaitan, Jokowi’s close aide who was assigned by the incumbent to bridge communications with Prabowo, has called for political bigwigs, including those in the rival camp, to get in control of their emotions and think with a clear mind.
One of the key figures supporting Jokowi's reelection, Luhut asserted that he still believed Prabowo--whom he called his good friend-- was "a rational man", in a statement delivered days after the presidential challenger declared he had won the election.
In what could be seen as an attempt to diffuse tensions after the bitterly contested election, Jokowi has appointed Luhut--a retired Army general himself--as his envoy to engage in talks with the Gerindra Party patron, Luhut confirmed on Monday.
The two figures had talked through the phone, in which Luhut described their conversation as "full of laughter" with "a little bit of nostalgia", and they had initially planned to meet on Sunday. However, they decided to reschedule the meeting because Prabowo had caught the flu, he said.
"Pak Prabowo is a good man [...] I know him to be a very rational man who can think clearly," Luhut told journalists on Monday, "So I just want to suggest that he not listen too much to those whose ideas are somewhat baseless."
"I truly wantPakPrabowo to be remembered as a leader who participated in strengthening democracy in Indonesia and one that respected the decisions of the General Elections Commission [KPU]," Luhut said.
Despite quick-count results by pollsters showing that Jokowi is on the track to win his second five-year term, Prabowo has resisted defeat and instead claimed to be the winner of the election--three times since voting day on April 17—citing internal "real count" data that showed he had won 62 percent of the vote.
Though acknowledging the fact that is leading in early vote counts, Jokowi has yet to officially declare his victory and instead asked for everyone to wait for the official recapitulation of votes by the KPU, which is scheduled to be announced on May 22.
Twelve survey institutions have released quick counts results that show Jokowi-Ma'ruf Amin won 54 to 56 percent of the vote compared to Prabowo-Sandiaga Uno's 44 to 46 percent. However, Prabowo dismissed the results and called the pollsters "partisan".
Jokowi first revealed that he had appointed an envoy to meet with Prabowo on April 18, saying that he wanted to communicate or perhaps meet with the former general so that the public could see that the election had concluded peacefully. The incumbent did not reveal the name at the time.
Luhut went on to call for other politicians and elite figures to think clearly and stop being so emotional because no matter what they said, people would refer to the data because digital data could not lie.
When asked whether Luhut meant to call for Prabowo's camp to refrain from claiming a win, he answered, "I suppose Prabowo is a wise man, so he will know what to do."
Prabowo, however, called on his supporters once again on Monday to continue monitoring the real vote count, saying in a video message posted on his Facebook account that they were already on the right track as they were defending the truth.
“We deplore that there are some authorities who take sides [...] but rest assured that even though there are many wrongdoings, we have clinched a victory [in the election],” Prabowo said.
Sudirman Said, a campaign executive for Prabowo-Sandiaga, said the camp had yet to plan a meeting with Luhut because the candidate pair was focused on safeguarding the final vote count.
Separately, Ma’ruf said the election was not a war and therefore all parties needed to accept the votes entrust the final vote count to the KPU, which had the authority to declare the winner of the election.
“The most important thing is that every party is ready to accept the election results, which we have promised since the very start,” Ma’ruf said.
