Presidential nominee Prabowo Subianto announces Sandiaga Uno as his running mate on Thursday evening (08/08/2018) at his residence on Jl. Kertanegara in Jakarta. The Prabowo-Sandiaga pair is supported by the Gerindra Party, the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS).
JAKARTA, KOMPAS — The contestation between Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Prabowo Subianto in the 2014 presidential election will repeat itself next year. The determination of the two candidate pairs was announced at the last minute.
The 2019 presidential election will be contested between two candidate pairs, namely Joko Widodo-KH Ma\'ruf Amin and Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno. The process of determining and announcing the two candidate pairs on Thursday in Jakarta shows that Indonesian political practices are determined at the last minute with a calculation that tends to be pragmatic.
Meanwhile, Prabowo announced his decision to compete in the election with Sandiaga as his running mate at around 11:30 p.m., adding that building a coalition was not easy.
Before the announcement was made, Prabowo held meetings with Democratic Party chairperson Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, among others.
After Jokowi and Prabowo announced their vice presidential choices and their supporting parties, the Democrats became the only political party, who has seats in the House of Representatives, which until 11:45 p.m. did not support the candidates in the presidential election.
Article 235 Paragraph 5 of Law No. 7/2017 on general elections states that any party who meets the requirements for submitting a candidate pair, but does not propose it, is subject to sanctions, including being banned from taking part in the next general election.
The Democrats’ deputy chairperson, Syarif Hasan, said his party\'s executive would convene to decide the direction of the coalition this morning. "All options are still open," he added.
The Jokowi-Ma\'ruf Amin pair is scheduled to register with the General Elections Commission (KPU) before Friday prayers. Meanwhile, the Prabowo-Sandiaga pair will register after Friday prayers.
Accepting
Regarding the decision not to choose Mahfud MD as Jokowi’s running mate, Golkar Party chairman Airlangga Hartarto said an internal decision had been made by the coalition to reject Mahfud.
The secretary-general of the National Awakening Party (PKB), Abdul Kadir Karding, said the decision to name Ma\'ruf as Jokowi’s running mate happened on Thursday afternoon. This was decided by Jokowi and the chairmen of his supporting parties at the Presidential Palace, before a meeting at the Pelataran Restaurant.
Karding said Ma\'ruf was chosen because he was a religious figure who could take on the political challenges of today.
“Indonesia requires a combination of nationalist and religious leadership and Pak Ma\'ruf Amin ticks all the boxes," said the chairman of the United Development Party (PPP), Romahurmuziy.
Mahfud admitted that he was not disappointed at not being chosen as Jokowi’s running mate. "I was just surprised, because I had been asked to prepare myself for the role," he said.
Meanwhile, Ma\'ruf said in choosing him, Jokowi had shown an appreciation for the ulema and Nahdlatul Ulama (NU). He added that Jokowi would not have chosen him if he did not serve as rais sam (chairman) of the NU’s executive board.
Ma\'ruf Amin is currently the chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council. Born in Tangerang, Banten, on March 11, 1943, he was elected as rais aam at the 33rd NU Congress in Jombang, East Java, in 2015.
In an interview with Kompas on Aug. 8, 2015, Ma\'ruf explained the importance of encouraging a peaceful, polite and tolerant understanding of Islam, adding that this was important to safeguard the harmony of the Indonesian people so that the whole community was able to work together to build a better nation and state. "We will show you the peace we can build in Indonesia: interfaith, inter-tribe, inter-ethnic supporting each other," he said at the time.
He espoused this view in an article on the Kompas opinion page on Aug. 29, 2015, with the title Khitah Islam Nusantara. "This article explains Islam, which is marked by the spirit of reform (improvement), balanced, polite and tasamuh, which means being tolerant and respectful of other parties," he wrote.
After the 1998 Reform, Ma\'ruf pioneered the establishment of the National Awakening Party (PKB), was entrusted as the chairman of its Syuro Council and had been a member of the People’s Consultative Assembly (MPR) and House of Representatives (DPR) for the PKB. He has also been a member of the Presidential Advisory Council.
Resigning
After being chosen as Prabowo\'s running mate, Sandiaga decided to resign from his position as deputy governor of Jakarta and his position as the deputy chairman of the Gerindra Party’s Board of Trustees. Sandiaga joined Gerindra after the 2014 general election.
Prabowo said Sandiaga was the best choice. He also appreciated the stance of the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and National Mandate Party (PAN) who agreed on Sandiaga becoming the vice presidential candidate. Prabowo said he wanted to improve the nation in the future, including utilizing Indonesia\'s natural wealth for the benefit of the people. (GAL/AGE/APA/LAS/IAN/REK/SAN/ BOW/ IAM/ EDN/ E01/ E03/ INA)
