By: Ahmad Harris) *
The 2019 Presidential Election is getting closer and only leaves around four months left for both candidates, Prabowo Subianto and Joko Widodo. In the remaining time, of course both parties will try to do the best possible campaign to be able to increase their respective electability, especially for the number two presidential candidate pair, namely Prabowo Subianto-Sandiaga Uno. This is motivated by the lagging voice support held by presidential candidate number 2. According to the Indonesian Survey Circle, Prabowo’s electability is still behind around 20% compared to the electability of incumbents, President Joko Widodo. This lag is what finally urged Prabowo Subianto to think harder in order to increase his electability. Politics of fear, hoaxes, pessimistic narratives and the threat of Indonesia will become extinct if it is not elected, become a mainstay of a prosperous just coalition in order to attract the attention of the public. Regardless of the impact on national harmony, Prabowo’s coalition continued to exploit sensitive issues in order to look for faces.
Unfortunately, such methods make people upset and don’t believe in this hoax coalition. Not only at the level of ordinary people, even senior political figures from the PAN party as part of the Adil Makmur coalition also felt “hot” with lies that were always broadcast. The senior political figures are Abdillah Toha, Albert Hasibuan, Goenawan Mohammad, Toeti Heraty, and Zumrotin. The five figures are the founders of PAN who have resigned from daily practical politics. The PAN founder expressed his anxiety in an open letter addressed to Amien Rais as Chairman of the PAN Honorary Council. In the letter, they highlighted PAN’s partiality in raising the glory of the new order. Of course this is a question for the entire community, how could a figure who fought for reform want to return to the new order. Presumably, it is no exaggeration to say that Amien Rais was not a reform figure, but an opportunist figure. Amien Rais’s alignments in the past was not a reform but a flowing power. When power is on the side of supporters of reform, he will join together. This time too, maybe Amien Rais thought that Prabowo would win, so he united himself into the new order generation group.
The phenomenon of the open letter seems to be analogous to the warning of parents to their children which has deviated from previous expectations. Unfortunately, the rebuke was ignored by the current PAN party elite. Instead of improving the situation, the current response of the PAN party elite indicates that the party is experiencing an internal conflict that is quite emergency. Not to mention the PAN cadres in the region who also provided support to the 01 presidential candidate regardless of the results of the PAN National Working Meeting. Now, the shadow of the split in the PAN camp can already be seen in plain view. Just waiting for time, the PAN party will sink if there is no attempt at internal consolidation.
The PAN split automatically adds to the row of facts about the fragility of the Indonesian coalition Adil Makmur. In addition to the PAN split, the Adil Makmur coalition must also struggle with disputes between Democrats and Gerindra in relation to the agenda of the new order generation. The Democrat General of the Democrats even said that his party agreed to Jokowi to continue two periods if Prabowo wanted to return Indonesia to the new order era. The statement is certainly a strong signal that the Democratic and Gerindra relations in the Adil Makmur coalition are increasingly rocking and no longer harmonious. The tense relationship between Democrats and Gerindra was also influenced by the insinuation of the Gerindra party towards SBY who was considered passive in campaigning for Prabowo Subianto. SBY and the democratic elite were increasingly furious with Gerindra’s statement which was his own coalition.
Various intrigues and friction in the Indonesian coalition Adil Makmur increasingly emphasized to the public that the coalition was no longer solid in running the 2019 Presidential Election. The PAN split and the Democratic-Gerindra friction were sufficient evidence of Prabowo’s failure to lead. In fact, even leading a coalition Prabowo was unable to do well. It cannot be imagined how in the future he will lead Indonesia, perhaps conflicts between the government elite, institutions and ministries will become a routine phenomenon in the country of Indonesia. Therefore, the community must be rational to choose not to be a victim of those who are very thirsty for power.
) * Political Observer