Mapping Jokowi’s 2019: North Sumatera
North Sumatera is the most populous province in the island of Sumatera. Around 9.2 million voters live there. This is the reason why the Province is one of the most important battlegrounds for the 2019 presidential race. Interestingly, Indobarometer’s most recent survey found President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo dominating North Sumatera.
The 2019 Race: Political Breakups
The Chairwoman of Gerindra Party’s North Sulawesi chapter Vonnie Anneke Panambunan, who is also the regent of Minahasa Utara, resigned from her party and joined the Nasdem Party. Since Nasdem is a member of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s ruling coalition and the Party has pledged their support to the President, Vonnie will therefore support Jokowi instead of Prabowo Subianto in the 2019 presidential race. There might be more political breakups ahead of us, for there’s no guarantee that members of Jokowi’s camp would not to jump ship to Prabowo or other rivals of Jokowi.
2019 Race: Prabowo, Gatot, and Their Rhetorics
After being silent for a while, Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto appeared in public on Thursday (March 22). He gave a speech in an event organized by a foundation owned by his younger brother Hashim Djojohadikusumo. Separately, the former Military (TNI) Commander General Gatot Nurmantyo told the press that Prabowo had asked him to join Gerindra. While commenting on the idea of pairing Prabowo with Gatot, PKS said that they didn’t mind. Do all of this mean we’re going to see Prabowo paired with Gatot in 2019?
Land Certificate for All & The Politics
“As I strolled through rice fields, I had no idea where the property boundaries were. But the dogs knew,” this is one of the famous phrases used by economist Hernando de Soto in his book ‘The Mistery of Capital’, to explain his ideas on property rights to the Indonesian cabinet, telling story about his observation about land in Bali. Hernando met then President SBY in early November 2006 at the State Palace. He was surprised that SBY read two of his books. There is no record meeting between President Jokowi and the economist. There is also no report about whether Jokowi reading his books.
Novanto-KPK Politics
Corruption suspect Setya Novanto, former chairman of Golkar Party, mentioned some high-profile names in his trial today. They include Puan Maharani (daughter of Megawati Soekarnoputri, chairperson of PDI-P) and Pramono Anung (former deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives/DPR). They are both ministers in Jokowi-Kalla administration from PDI-P. Novanto mentioned three other names from PDI-P, two from Democratic Party, two from Golkar, and one from Islamic party PKS.
Mapping Jokowi’s 2019: East Java
The polling agency Charta Politika released an interesting survey result on the electability of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and his strongest potential rival Prabowo Subianto in East Java. The pollster found Jokowi’s electability far ahead of Prabowo’s in the province. East Java, as we all know, is the second most populous province in the country where more than 30 million voters or 16% of the country’s voters live.
Update on Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia
One of the biggest decisions the Government of Joko “Jokowi” Widodo made in 2017 was the decision to disband the notorious community organization (Ormas) Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI). This marked the Government’s clear intention to aggressively combat the growth of radical ideas. The question that many have asked since then is whether the HTI has indeed been completely dismantled. Unfortunately it’s difficult to provide a straightforward answer because even though the organization has been declared disbanded, its members and allies are still trying to fight it off.
Corruption in Malang
In August last year, the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) named the Head of Malang DPRD one Moch Arief Wicaksono (PDI-P) a graft suspect in two cases of alleged corruption. Arief was named suspect along with two other parties. Last week, news began to circulate that the KPK had named new suspects, thanks to a copy of a letter of summons received by the press. The letter noted the KPK summoning one Harun Prasojo (PAN) to be examined as a witness for not one but six suspects; all of whom are members of the Malang DPRD. On March 21, 2018, the KPK officially announced their investigation into eighteen members of the Malang DPRD and the Mayor of Malang one Moch Anton.
Amien Rais and Zulkifli Hasan on the Move
The patron figure of PAN Amien Rais launched yet another spiteful criticism at President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Elsewhere, PAN Chairman (and speaker of the People’s Consultative Assembly) Zulkifli Hasan, who happens to be the father-in-law of Amien Rais’ son, met with the Chairman of Golkar Party Airlangga Hartarto to discuss, among others, the 2019 race.
The 2019 Race: Prabowo’s Dilemma & Gatot’s Move
We’ve asked the question why Lt. Gen. (ret) Prabowo Subianto has not yet declared his presidential bid in past articles. A statement from PKS chairman and the latest statements from Gerindra leaders may have confirmed our suspicion that Prabowo is in a dilemma: on whether to become President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s running mate, or to become a kingmaker by nominating someone else to challenge Jokowi, or to challenge Jokowi.