Sri Sultan Hamengkubowono X confirmed to the press on Monday (Feb. 12) that he was asked by President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to facilitate a meeting with the fifth President Megawati Soekarnoputri, the matriarch of the ruling party PDIP. Why Jokowi, who never formally announced his departure from the party, needs a broker to meet Megawati? Will the meeting happen? Will Jokowi and Megawati restore their relationship?

Connie Rahakundini Bakrie, a defense and military observer, is in the spotlight after her video went viral on the internet, in which she talked about her meeting with Rosan Roeslani, the campaign manager of Prabowo-Gibran. Connie claims that Rosan told her about a scenario of Prabowo’s presidency. Rosan, however, denied Connie’s claim. Connie fought back and rebuffed Rosan’s statement. Let’s talk a bit about this claiming game.

Watchdoc, an independent documentary channel founded by Dandhy Dwi Laksono, released a documentary video titled ‘Dirty Vote’ on Sunday (Feb. 11), the first day of the silence period or only three days before the election day. The campaign team (TKN) of Prabowo-Gibran, considers this video as a slander and an effort to deligitimate the 2024 elections, but Ganjar-Mahfud’s team sees this as part of political educations.

It is two days left into the election day. Three pollsters have released the results of their respective electability survey, in which all of them found Prabowo-Gibran leading the race by a big margin with electability above 50 percent. Will Prabowo-Gibran win 2024 race in one round, or will their two contenders push the election into a runoff instead?

Soon after leaving the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, PDIP politician Basuki Tjahaja Purnama a.k.a Ahok causes controversies here and there. Ahok, who was known as a political ally of President Jokowi, made some remarks against the President and his eldest son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is running in 2024 race as Prabowo Subianto’s running mate.

The fifth President Megawati Soekarnoputri, the matriarch of the ruling party PDIP, had an interview with Rosianna Silalahi on Kompas TV last night (Feb. 8). Megawati addressed many issues in the interview, but what’s worth highlighting is the one related to the ministers of PDIP in the cabinet of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

Instead of humbly accepting criticism about democratic backsliding, nepotism, and abuse of power to shore up support for own son Gibran, the Palace of Jokowi accused professors, lecturers, and the academic community nationwide of playing partisanship in politics. Professor Koentjoro from Jokowi’s almamater UGM in Yogyakarta was irritated by the allegation saying ‘over 250 professors participated in the discussion’ leading to the reading of petition, which triggered wave of similar petitions from almost all universities in the country. 

The tension is heating up with only a week left before the election day. It is apparent in the recent movement from universities against President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. Former Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law & Security Affairs Mahfud MD, who is running in 2024 race as the running mate of Ganjar Pranowo, spoke on Tuesday (Feb. 6) about a silent operation on universities’ rectors to make a counter-movement. Meanwhile, the Minister of Investment Bahlil Lahadalia, who is supporting Prabowo-Gibran, argued that the movement from these universities against Jokowi is a part of a scenario.

Poltracking released the result of its electability survey on Tuesday (Feb. 6), in which the pollster found that Prabowo-Gibran secured more than 60 percent of electability in East Java, the second most populous province in Indonesia. However, the biggest question about the pollster is whether they are reliable and trustworthy.