The 2019 Race: A Man of Surprises
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is a man of surprises. In the past, he surprised many by appointing an all-female panel in charge of selecting new leaders of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK). Another one of the President’s surprise move was the appointment of Ignasius Jonan, who he previously fired from the position of minister of transportation, as minister of energy & mineral resources (ESDM) to replace Sudirman Said. People are now wondering if the President is going to pull yet another surprise move by naming someone unexpected as his running mate in 2019.
Corruption Journal
The trials of the Manado High Court bribery suspects ended on June 6, 2018. The Panel of Judges of the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court deemed both defendants guilty of all charges. Meanwhile, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) began the week by summoning politicians and other parties previously mentioned in connection to the procurement of electronic identity card (E-KTP) graft case.
Jokowi’s 2019: Banten, Central Java & East Java
Polling agency Charta Politika has revealed that Prabowo leads in Banten with 28.5% electability. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, meanwhile, is slightly behind with 26.9% electability. Other names surveyed like Gatot Nurmantyo, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, Anies Baswedan, and Hary Tanoesoedibjo all scored less than 2%. Charta, moreover, found that Prabowo also leads in a head-to-head scenario against Jokowi—Prabowo secured 44.1% of the votes, while Jokowi collected 36.9%. This should serve as a wake up call for Jokowi and his team.
Jokowi’s 2019: West Java
Polling agency Charta Politika found President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo leading in West Java with 38.8% electability. Prabowo Subianto’s electability, meanwhile, is 30.2%. Other names like Gatot Nurmantyo, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, Anies Baswedan, Hary Tanoesoedibjo, and Ridwan Kamil were also surveyed, but their electability were less than 2%.
Cash-Rich Groups & Political Financing (1)
Major business groups in Indonesia are known for bankrolling campaigns of president and vice president. In the past, a dinner with ten conglomerates would be enough to finance the whole campaign. Will 2019 be different? Which groups are considered cash-rich and targeted by the campaign teams?
Jokowi’s Bully
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo is a frequent victim of nasty campaigns. Some of the President’s haters rely on fake news and hoaxes to tarnish the President’s reputation. The most recent of which is the spread of photograph of the President’s wax figure being hugged by a young woman. The person who spread the picture seems to believe that it’s actually Jokowi enjoying the embrace. This could’ve been an honest mistake, but the language in the caption written by the person posting the photo sounds more like an accusation than a display of clumsiness. But these kinds of materials against Jokowi has become a normal happenstance. Jokowi’s team struggle. But a new man in the Presidential Staff Office might help the President’s communications team find a new way in countering the haters. That man is Ali Mochtar Ngabalin.
Central Java Election & KPK’s Investigation
The incumbent Governor of Central Java Ganjar Pranowo, who is also a PDIP politician, is predicted to win his reelection by a landslide. All polling results have shown his electability as being too strong for his contender Sudirman Said to beat. But the problem for Ganjar is that he’s still haunted by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK)’s investigation into the electronic identity card (E-KTP) graft scandal.
Jokowi’s Deradicalization Agenda
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo attended an ifthar gathering with military (TNI) and police personnel at the TNI headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta on Tuesday (June 6). The President gave a speech, in which he announced a substantial increase of performance allowance for military-police personnel and a significant increase of operational allowance for Babinsa officers (the non-commissioned military officers tasked with supervising villages all over the country). This is likely Jokowi’s way of incentivizing the military and the police in the efforts of detecting and countering terrorism.
Artidjo Alkostar’s Retirement and A Series of Reconsideration Petition
Justice Artidjo Alkostar officially retired on May 22, 2018. During his tenure, he was known as the mortal enemy of corruptors, for he would deny almost all petition for legal remedies submitted by graft convicts. His retirement is not that interesting to be discussed, what is interesting is that after his retirement date, the Supreme Court received three petition for Reconsideration (PK) filed by three famous graft convicts, i.e., Anas Urbaningrum, Siti Fadilah and Suryadharma Ali.
Jokowi’s Deradicalization Movement
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo invited 42 figures to the State Palace Jakarta on Monday (Jun 4) to discuss many social-economic issues, but the main issues discussed were intolerance, deradicalization, and terrorism.