Author: Mira Adriadna*
Internal conflicts continue to strengthen within the Prabowo-Sandi coalition party. Indeed, it has been seen that not all parties agree to the decision to elect the presidential and vice presidential candidate for the couple. This can be seen from the disputes between Pro Jokowi and Pro Prabowo in the stronghold of the National Mandate Party (PAN).
The five PAN founders namely Abdillah Toha, Albert Hasibuan, Goenawan Mohamad, Toeti Heraty, and Zumrotin, previously urged Amien Rais to resign from his position in PAN and national politics through an open letter, because Amien Rais was considered to violate the basic principles of PAN’s establishment. In addition, Amien was considered to have supported and played an active role in politicians who wanted to revive the New Order. In fact, as a reform figure who played a role in ending the New Order’s power, Amin Rais currently sympathized, supported and joined politicians who aspired to return the New Order’s power to the Indonesian political scene which was considered very ironic. The community has imagined that the New Order feared would come if Prabowo was elected President of Indonesia later.
In addition, Albert Hasibuan’s son, Bara Hasiabuan, who served as PAN’s Deputy Chairperson, was also urged to resign, due to his political stance in defending the regional officials who made the declaration to support Jokowi. In this case, Bara disagreed if the original party fired cadres who had different attitudes. Bara assessed Muhidin’s steps as a strategy so that PAN could be accepted in all regions. If you want to get support from the local community, the PAN management in the area must follow the voice of the constituents there.
For his attitude that was considered different by the PAN party elite, PAN DPP Chairman Yandri Susanto said he would fire Bara Hasibuan if he continued to carry out an attitude that was not in line with the PAN party’s final decision in defending the Prabowo-Sandi pair. This gives a signal that the internal side of the next camp is experiencing shocks due to political choices, and their unrealistic choices with the current conditions of the presidential election.
Maybe the people can think again, internal conflict within the PAN party could mean the decision to choose a Prabowo-Sandi partner is only a decision from the party elite for an interest that might be obtained from the candidate pair number 2. Or it could mean something is unacceptable by all party members if Prabowo-Sandi is elected as the President and Vice President later. Not solid members of party number 2 may be a consideration for the people to think again and analyze the characteristics of each candidate pair before determining the appropriate leader on April 17, 2019 later.
) * FISIP Cendrawasih University students