The Coalition for Change, an alliance of Nasdem Party, Democratic Party and the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), has finally agreed on presidential hopeful Anies Baswedan’s proposed running mates: East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa and Golkar Party Chairman Airlangga Hartarto.
“Nasdem and the coalition trust Anies to pick his running mate because the harmony between the would-be president and vice president should be maintained from the beginning. We do not want them to have a conflict during their tenure. It is Anies who knows who will fit best for him,” a source with Nasdem Party told Indonesia Business Post on February 14, 2023.
Khofifah is a favorite candidate for the VP position due to her strong influence in the country’s biggest Islamic organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) despite the pollster survey results. The source said that Khofifah has led several NU wing groups like Fatayat NU and Muslimat NU. Her position as East Java governor, which has a significant number of voters, is another favorable factor.
“Khofifah has her grip across Indonesia until the grass root level due to her leadership position in NU,” the source explained.
Khofifah also has no problem with political faction since she is not a member of a political party. This situation will raise the public interest on the Anies-Khofifah pair.
Meanwhile, Airlangga has a favorable factor as the chairman of the Golkar Party, the second largest after the ruling party Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP). In theory, he is stronger than Khofifah as he has a political machine to mobilize.
Unfortunately, there are many frictions within the Golkar Party. If the split groups could not unite, Golkar’s support for Anies, former Jakarta governor, will weaken.
AHY is not an option
The internal friction is one of the issues for Nasdem to support chairman of the Democratic Party Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono (AHY) as a vice presidential candidate for Anies. Several pollsters have revealed that AHY is one of the most favorite candidates for the VP position. “The function of the party cannot run well because there is an internal conflict,” the source said.
Former Democratic Party chairman, and father of AHY, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) did not compel to propose his son as a vice presidential candidate. “SBY has a good relationship with [Nasdem Party chairman] Surya Paloh and SBY has requested AHY to trust Paloh on the vice presidential candidate issue,” the source said.
Propaganda
Political analyst from the Pelita Harapan University, Emrus Sihombing, said that Nasdem Party’s initiative to pair Anies and Airlangga is an illogic propaganda. He said it did not make sense that Golkar would be willing to nominate its chairman as a VP candidate for Anies, considering that Nasdem gained less votes than Golkar in the 2019 elections.
“From the political perspective , Golkar has a stronger political power than Nasdem. Airlangga has a political machine that can mobilize the voters until the grass root level in remote areas,” he added.
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At the same time, as a coordinating minister for the economy, Airlangga has shown a better performance. During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, Indonesia’s economy has been stable with maintained inflation and affordable prices of basic needs. On the contrary, Anies was seen failed to resolve Jakarta’s problems especially floods, traffic jams and others.
“If Golkar mobilized its machine, Airlangga’s electability can be higher than Anies’ electability,” Sihombing said.
He also said that Anies and Khofifah could perform well as a pair as they both have experiences in running administrations as governors. Their performance and weakness are almost similar.
However, Sihombing said that AHY has yet to issue a statement whether his party would agree on Anies running mate, meaning the Coalition for Change has yet to reach an acclamation on the vice presidential candidate.
