TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Tension flared when losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto watched the televised announcement of the Constitutional Court (MK) ruling on the electoral dispute case on Thursday, August 21, 2014. As previously reported in the August 25-31, 2014 edition of Tempo magazine, Prabowo was at the penthouse suite at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Jakarta.
Prabowo was enraged upon perusing the draft of the speech made by his coalition partners that was written in response to MK's announcement, which had ruled in favour of the Jokowi-JK presidential ticket. "Are you all traitors? What did Jokowi give you?" said Prabowo to his colleagues in the Red and White Coalition.The enraged candidate then promptly left the suite. Prabowo returned moments after, still visibly angered by the ruling.
The vice president candidate from the Red and White coalition, Hatta Rajasa, then stepped in to defuse the situation. "How long should this go on?" said Hatta to Prabowo. He explained that the MK ruling was final and legally binding—that no matter what happens next, Jokowi will be inaugurated as Indonesia's next president.
"Pak Ical [Aburizal Bakrie] used to be part of the administration. He should have known about this," said Hatta, referring to the former Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Coordinating Minister for Public Welfare.
Hatta then suggested they prepare a speech in response to the ruling. Its essence is that the Red and White coalition respects the ruling and affirms its acceptance of the Jokowi-JK ticket's electoral victory.
Akbar Tandjung, the chairman of Golkar Party Board of Trustees, admitted the situation was a little tense when the party elites came together at the suite to watch the ruling with Prabowo. "The situation became a little tense, but I don't want to elaborate on it," said Akbar on Friday, August 22, 2014.
However, Andre Rosiade—a member of Prabowo's inner circle who is also a politician from the Great Indonesia Movement (Gerindra) Party—dismissed reports that the situation at the suite became tense after Prabowo's temper erupted. "I was there [at the suite]. No one was angry. The situation was calm and Prabowo laughed the entire time," explained Rosiade.
TEMPO TEAM
