Politics

Pope Francis is set to land at Soekarno Hatta international airport in the coming hours for a three-day historic visit. He becomes the third pope visiting Indonesia after Paul VI (1970) and John Paul II (1989). He was scheduled to visit Indonesia in 2020, but postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Nahdlatul Ulama’s Central Board (PBNU), led by KH Yahya Cholil Staquf a.k.a Gus Yahya, decided to delay its plan to hold another Muktamar (chairmanship congress) of PKB. Initially, PBNU planned to hold another Muktamar of PKB today (Sep. 2) in Jakarta.

Both PDIP and PKB tried a last minute maneuver to nominate Anies Baswedan and Sandiaga Uno as governor candidate, respectively, for the West Java gubernatorial election, but they ultimately failed. In the end, PKB endorsed Acep Adang Ruhiat-Gitalis Dwi Natarina, while PDIP gave its ticket to Ono Surono-Jeje Wiradinata. Their decisions make the West Java gubernatorial election a four-horse race.

Pretty much as predicted, PDIP will nominate Tri Rismaharini, who is familiarly known as Risma, as governor candidate to challenge the incumbent Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa in this year’s East Java gubernatorial election. PKB, meanwhile, will also nominate its own cadre as governor candidate that will make the East Java gubernatorial election this year into a three-horse race.

PPP, a small Islamic party that is strongly affiliated to the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), will hold its Muktamar (chairmanship congress) next year. However, the pressures continue to flow from inside the Party to accelerate the Muktamar in this year following PPP’s failure in the 2024 legislative election and the exclusion of the Party from the House of Representatives (DPR).

The Chief of the National Police (Kapolri) General Listyo Sigit Prabowo instituted another job rotation, in which the General once again promoted his former classmate at the Police Academy’s (Akpol) 1991 class as the new provincial police chief (Kapolda) in Papua. With the appointment, General Sigit’s former classmates are now dominating the provincial police chief positions across the country.

Unlike Jakarta and East Java, we may see a more balanced competition between three gubernatorial pairs in the election in West Java, the most populated province in Indonesia. The three gubernatorial pairs are Dedi Mulyadi-Erwan Setiawan from KIM Plus (an expanded coalition of Prabowo-Gibran), Ahmad Syaikhu-Ilham Habibie from PKS-Nasdem, and Ono Surono-Acep Adang Ruhiat from PDIP-PKB.

Finally, we may see an interesting and exciting race in East Java gubernatorial election this year between Tri Rismaharini, or familiarly known as Risma, and Khofifah Indar Parawansa, the incumbent. Who will win the race between these two female politicians?

After massive protests from civil society groups, student activists, and those from Partai Buruh (Labor Party) led by Said Iqbal, Anies Baswedan’s supporter, to support the Constitutional Court’s (MK) ruling that paves the way for more political parties to nominate regional head candidates, PDIP chose to nominate an unexpected candidate for Jakarta election. In East Java election, PKB nominates an unexpected candidate as well.