Gerindra Wants Prabowo to Join Jokowi's Camp

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party Secretary General Ahmad Muzani said he was keen to see the party leader, Prabowo Subianto, join the coalition of the Joko Widodo (Jokowi)-Ma'ruf Amin administration. However, it was up to Prabowo to decide the party's direction as stipulated in Gerindra's rules and guidelines, he told journalists on the sidelines of the Gerindra Party's national meeting at Prabowo's residence in Hambalang, Bogor District, West Java Province, Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak, spokesman of Gerindra's Chief Patron Prabowo Subianto, earlier stated that Prabowo had submitted his "great push" concept to Widodo a month ago.

The concept contained three main points that could provide Indonesia's economic development with a great push under the Jokowi-Amin leadership with the spirit of food and energy security as well as powerful defence and security, he said.

The Gerindra party was capable of playing the role of a critical coalition to affect the government's policies for the nation's benefit, another political analyst opined.

However, if Gerindra decided to stay within the government, the functioning of the opposition in the House of Representatives (DPR) would be weakened, the Nation State Institute (NSI)-Indonesia political analyst, Yandi Hermawandi, said.

"Gerindra is capable of implementing a critical coalition mechanism through which Prabowo's ideas and perspectives that he had conveyed during his presidential campaign, such as opposing import and foreign debt policies, can be executed," he said.

Therefore, Gerindra's presence inside the Jokowi-Amin administration would ensure that the government's policies are implemented in the people’s interest, he said.

Meetings that Prabowo Subianto had with incumbent President Jokowi and key figures of his coalition over the past two weeks had hinted that Gerindra wanted to join the government, Hermawandi argued.

On October 11, Prabowo Subianto had held a meeting with President Jokowi at the Merdeka Palace during which they shared a common perspective of Indonesia's dire need for security and political stability.

On October 13, Prabowo met with Surya Paloh, and on October 14 with the National Awakening Party (PKB) leader, Muhaimin Iskandar.

Nasdem and PKB are members of the Jokowi-Amin coalition.

Along with the Golkar Party, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP), and several other minor parties, Nasdem and PKB demonstrated their unwavering support for the Jokowi-Amin camp during and after the campaign.

ANTARA