Suara.com – Presidential candidate number 2, Prabowo Subianto, admitted that he felt he received great support in his candidacy this time in the 2024 presidential election. Apart from support from the public, Prabowo also felt supported by 3 Indonesian presidents at once, namely Jokowi, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), and Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur).
This was revealed by Prabowo at the Prabowo-Gibran Youth National Campaign Team (TKN) Grand Call event at the Newsdelivers.com Convention Center (JCC) on Friday (2/2/2024) evening yesterday. Check out the following profiles of 3 Indonesian presidents who claim to support Prabowo.
1. Joko Widodo (Jokowi)
President Jokowi and Prabowo at Halim Perdanakusuma Air Base, Wednesday (24/1/2024). (Suara.com/Novian)
Ir. H. Joko Widodo is the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia who took office on 20 October 2014. Born in Surakarta, Central Java, on 21 June 1961, Jokowi first entered government as Mayor of Surakarta (Solo) from 28 July 2005 to 1 October 2012.
After that, Jokowi served as Governor of DKI Newsdelivers.com on October 15 2012 before being elected as President of the Republic of Indonesia in the 2014 Presidential Election. During the Presidential Election, Jokowi was elected with his partner, Jusuf Kalla.
In the 2019 presidential election, Jokowi was re-elected as President of the Republic of Indonesia for his second term. This time, Jokowi was accompanied by KH Ma'ruf Amin and was inaugurated on October 20 2019 for the 2019 to 2024 term of office.
Infrastructure development became a priority program during Jokowi's first leadership period. The development, which is carried out evenly to the outermost regions of Indonesia, is carried out to catch up with Indonesia in this sector compared to other countries.
This priority program is accompanied by social assistance such as the Smart Indonesia Card (KIP), Healthy Indonesia Card (KIS), and the Family Hope Program (PKH). Apart from that, since the beginning of his term of office, Jokowi has attempted agrarian reform, one of which is accelerating the issuance of land title certificates to reduce the occurrence of land disputes due to the lack of certificates.
In his second term, Jokowi shifted the government's focus to developing and increasing the capacity of Indonesian human resources so that they could compete with other countries. The infrastructure development program is still continuing at the same time.
However, Jokowi has not yet publicly expressed support for Prabowo. Nevertheless, Jokowi throughout the 2024 presidential election campaign has repeatedly shown symbols of support for Prabowo and Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is his eldest son. Jokowi has also eaten together with Prabowo many times in public.
2. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY)
The 6th President of the Republic of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono when he joined Prabowo's campaign (Instagram/@agusyudhoyono)
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY) is the 6th president of the Republic of Indonesia. Different from previous presidents, SBY was the first president to be elected directly by the people in the second round of the Presidential Election process on 20 September 2004.
This retired four-star general's political career began on January 27 2000. At that time SBY decided to retire early from the military because he was trusted to serve as Minister of Mines and Energy in the government of President Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur).
Not long afterward, SBY was forced to leave his position as Mentamben because Gus Dur asked him to serve as Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs. On August 10 2001, President Megawati trusted SBY and appointed him as Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security in the Mutual Cooperation Cabinet.
But on March 11 2004, SBY chose to resign from the position of Coordinating Minister for Politics and Security. This resignation step gave him more freedom to exercise his political rights which led him to the top seat of national leadership.
And finally, in the second round of the direct presidential election on September 20 2004, SBY, who was paired with Jusuf Kalla, won the trust of the majority of the Indonesian people with a vote of more than 60 percent. SBY was then inaugurated as the 6th President of the Republic of Indonesia on October 20 2004.
Then after the end of his term in 2009, SBY announced that he would run again as a presidential candidate accompanied by Boediono as vice presidential candidate supported by the Democratic Party. In the 2009 presidential election, SBY was elected for the second time as president for a term of 2009 to 2014 with Boediono as vice president.
So far it is known that SBY has openly supported Prabowo to win the 2024 presidential election. In fact, at the Democrat Party's big campaign event in Malang City yesterday, he also invited the public to vote for Prabowo – Gibran.
3. Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur)
KH Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur). (Government of the Republic of Indonesia/Wikimedia commons)
Abdurrahman Wahid or familiarly known as Gus Dur was the 4th president of the Republic of Indonesia who served from 1999 to 2001. He replaced BJ Habibie after being elected by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in the 1999 elections.
Gus Dur is the son of KH Wahid Hasyim, founder of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), which is the largest Islamic organization in Indonesia. After completing his education in Indonesia, he continued his studies in Egypt at Al-Azhar University, Cairo.
After returning from Egypt, Gus Dur was active in the NU management. He became a young administrator and was involved in various organizational activities. In 1984, Gus Dur was elected as General Chair of NU to replace his father.
In the New Order era under Suharto's government, Gus Dur became a vocal critic of the authoritarian regime. He supported the reform movement and was one of the main figures who played an important role in the political changes of 1998.
After the fall of the Soeharto regime, Gus Dur was elected as the 4th President of the Republic of Indonesia in 1999 through an election process carried out by the MPR. The election of Gus Dur as president was the beginning of a new democratic era in Indonesia.
Gus Dur's tenure as president was inseparable from various challenges, including ethnic conflict, national security and economic problems. Even though he only served for approximately 2 years, Gus Dur's policies left a significant footprint in efforts to maintain inter-religious tolerance, prioritize human rights and strengthen democracy.
In 2001, Gus Dur faced political pressure which ultimately made him resign from his position as President. After that Gus Dur remained active in various social and religious activities until he died on December 30 2009.
The truth of Gus Dur's support for Prabowo cannot of course be known considering that the person concerned has already died. It's just that Prabowo admitted that he had been close to the NU kiai for a long time. Prabowo even called himself “Gus Dur's masseuse” because he often massaged the deceased.
Contributor: Trias Rohmadoni