Everybody Wants to Win in One Round
It appears that it’s not just Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka who wants to win the 2024 presidential race in only one round. Their two contenders, Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD and Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar, also aim for the same thing. Recently, the matriarch of the ruling party PDIP Megawati Soekarnoputri in her opening speech at the PDIP’s anniversary event on Wednesday (Jan. 10), shared her belief that Ganjar-Mahfud will win 2024 race in one round.
Jokowi-Bongbong Meeting
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo started his overseas visit in Philippines, where he met with President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. Jokowi’s meeting with Bongbong Marcos is truly worth highlighting for certain reasons. One of them is the similarities of strategy from Prabowo Subianto in the 2024 presidential race and Bongbong when winning last year’s election in Philippines.
PDIP’s Anniversary Event
Today on Jan. 10, the ruling party PDIP is holding its 51st anniversary event. President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo will, for the first time, not attend the event, and one can understand why. Regardless of Jokowi’s absence, PDIP’s anniversary event is, perhaps, the most interesting political event to watch today because we are waiting for what the Party’s matriarch Megawati Soekarnoputri will say in her opening speech.
2024 Race & Land Monopoly
The second debate between the three presidential candidates is over, but the polemic continues surrounding a huge land concession owned by Prabowo Subianto, a presidential candidate from a coalition led by Gerindra Party. Prabowo, however, is not the only one who controls huge concessions in the country. In fact, the monopoly of land by certain groups of elites and big companies has been one of Indonesia’s biggest problems for decades.
Anies Rhetorics (4)
Anies Baswedan questioned Prabowo Subianto about ethics, cronyism, and huge concessions in the latest debate held on Sunday (Jan. 7). Prabowo could have raised similar questions on Anies and mentioned some examples, but unfortunately he didn’t, which pointed to the...
Prabowo’s Inner Circle (3)
Pretty much as predicted, Prabowo Subianto was asked about the involvement of those within his inner circle in the procurement of the military’s primary weapons system (alutsista) and in the food estate project. Let’s talk about these people. The Defense Ministry,...
Prabowo’s race to lose
It is increasingly become a race to lose for Prabowo Subianto. He leads in many surveys against Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo by a substantial margin, whilst not enough to seal the race in one round. Somehow, president Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo, whose son Gibran Rakabuming Raka, feels insecure about Prabowo’s chance because the last presidential debate could be a banana skin.
Luhut v Watchdog Groups: The Verdict
Haris Azhar, the executive director of Lokataru & former coordinator of KontraS, and Fatia Maulidiyanti, the current coordinator of KontraS, are scheduled today (Jan. 8) to hear the verdict from the judges at the East Jakarta Sub District Court (PN) in a defamation case against General (ret) Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, a powerful member of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s administration. The verdict trial today is truly worth highlighting given the public attention to this case and the implications that may come from the verdict on the 2024 race.
Jokowi-Prabowo Meeting
The presidential debate last night is over. However, the dinner meeting between President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Minister of Defense Prabowo Subianto, who is a presidential candidate from a coalition led by Gerindra Party, before the debate got more attention than the debate itself. After the meeting with Prabowo, the President also met with Airlangga Hartarto and Zulkifli Hasan, the two key leaders in Prabowo’s coalition.
Prabowo Delays Second-Hand Mirage’s Acquisition
Prabowo Subianto, in his capacity as the minister of defense, has decided to delay the acquisition of secondhand Mirage 2000-5 fighters from Qatar. The decision is worth highlighting because it is taken only a few days before the presidential debate, in which Prabowo will engage with his two contenders, Ganjar Pranowo and Anies Baswedan.