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Prabowo backs Jokowi’s son, in-law for governor
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Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto gestures while attending the Gerindra Party national leaders’ meeting in Bogor, West Java, on Aug.12, 2022. (Reuters/Willy Kurniawan)
G
erindra Party leader Prabowo Subianto has thrown his support behind President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s son-in-law Bobby Nasution, the mayor of Medan, to run for governor of North Sumatra in 2024.
“I supported him in his run for Medan mayor. He has enough time to promote himself to run for the office [of governor],” Prabowo said on Thursday evening during a dinner with Bobby at the mayor's official residence in Medan.
Prabowo, who is also Jokowi's defense minister, said he was not in North Sumatra for political reasons but rather to attend the wedding of one his staff members in Deli Serdang regency on Friday.
Earlier this week, Prabowo expressed support for Jokowi’s eldest son and Surakarta Mayor Gibran Rakabuming Raka to run for governor of either Jakarta or Central Java.
“He’s fit [for either job]. I believe he will succeed if he runs,” Prabowo said following a meeting with Gibran in Surakarta on Tuesday.
Prabowo fought to the bitter end in the last two elections, in which he was beaten both times by Jokowi, a former mayor of Surakarta.
But the rivalry between the two political figures, which once divided the nation into cebong (tadpoles), a pejorative term used to describe Jokowi’s supporters and kampret (bats), one used to describe Prabowo’s, ended abruptly when Prabowo chose to accept Jokowi’s offer for him to serve as the administration’s defense minister.
Last week, Jokowi caused a stir by tapping Prabowo to coordinate intelligence affairs, a move that analysts said contravened certain laws and could set the country’s security reforms back.
Jokowi said he wanted Prabowo to “orchestrate” the intelligence work carried out by a wide range of institutions, including the State Intelligence Agency (BIN), the intelligence departments of the Indonesian Military (TNI) and National Police and the National Cyber and Encryption Agency (BSSN).
“[This is] so that we can get reliable information, which can help determine how policies are made,” the President said.
The move set off speculation that the BIN would be placed under Prabowo’s watch, but the minister has claimed he will work only as “a kind of coordinator” of intelligence gathering and “help [the President] judge the merit of the information”. (dre)
