Former Military Bravo 5, Cakra 19 Tasked to Win Jokowi-Ma`ruf

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Heading toward the 2019 presidential election, Jokowi`s camp seems to have learned from the 2014 election where they lost the voters’ concentration area of West Java. This is why the presidential and vice presidential hopeful Joko “Jokowi” Widodo – Ma’ruf Amin tasked a special team called Bravo 5 and Cakra 19.

Jokowi, who partnered with Jusuf Kalla in the last presidential election lost to Prabowo – Hatta Rajasa pair that won 59.78 percent of West Java’s votes in 2014. Jokowi – Jusuf Kalla was just behind with 40.22 percent of votes.

“The Bravo 5 and Cakra 19 special operations team will bear a specific task in West Java. Considering that we lost in 22 districts in 2014 [election]. These men understand the territories,” said Jokowi – Ma’ruf presidential campaign team director Maman Imanulhaq to Tempo on Thursday, last week.

The birth of Bravo-5 was driven by, at the time, General Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan who was Commander of the Army Training and Education Center. The TNI retirees joined in Bravo-5 were graduates of the 1970 Military Academy. The name itself took inspiration from a house in Central Jakarta.

Cakra 19 consists of TNI retirees that have just freshly retired, which are mostly from the Indonesian Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) and are headquartered at Setia Budi, South Jakarta. This team was established by the end of 2017.

There are three main tasks for the two former army groups in facing the 2019 presidential election. The first is to assure that Jokowi will only have one opponent in the 2019 presidential election, secondly, is to make sure that Jokowi – Ma’ruf obtains 55 percent of the election’s minimum percentage.

The third task for the team is to confirm that political parties in the Jokowi – Ma’ruf coalition obtains a positive result in the 2019 legislative elections.

DEWI NURITA