TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Sandiaga Uno admitted that State Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Budi Gunawan had a role in making the meeting between President Joko Widodo and Prabowo Subianto happened. Jokowi and Prabowo met at the Lebak Bulus MRT Station on Saturday, July 13.

Sandiaga said Prabowo told him about the meeting on Friday, the day before. “If there are no changes, there will be a meeting tomorrow. But it does not include you," Prabowo said according to Sandiaga as he told Tempo Magazine.

Sandiaga said he was happy with the news and it did not matter that he was not involved in the meeting. According to Sandiaga, the process to get Prabowo and Jokowi together in a meeting began soon after the voting day on April 17.

A number of state officials, from Coordinating Minister of Maritime Affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan to Vice President Jusuf Kalla, all tried to arrange a meeting between the two.

But Sandi said it was BIN chief Budi Gunawan who managed to make the meeting happen. "Pak BG was the goal-scorer. He dribbled the ball and kicked it in," Sandiaga said.

Sandiaga said that Prabowo and Budi met several times, including once in Bali. But Sandiaga did not know the exact contents of the meeting. "Pak Prabowo did not give details," he said. What is clear, Sandiaga said, was that "Pak BG was able to give concrete answer to what Pak Prabowo wanted."

He also said that Prabowo also met Budi Gunawan after the May 21-22 riots after a number of Prabowo-Sandiaga supporters were arrested by the police.

Gerindra deputy Sufmi Dasco Ahmad arranged a meeting between Prabowo and the BIN chief on May 27, wherein Prabowo asked Budi not to arrest supporters. Dasco then volunteered to be the guarantor of the detained supporters. A total of 130 Prabowo-Sandi supporters were then released by the police.

When asked if this was true, Dasco did not deny it. "I only carried out orders. Even though there was some kind of agreement, what I had to do was convince security authorities that the detainees were entitled to bail and house arrest," he said.

DEWI NURITA I MAJALAH TEMPO