Vela Andapita, Jakarta – Pictures of politician Amien Rais meeting with cleric Rizieq Shihab – who is currently on the National Police's wanted list – in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, have gone viral on social media.
Amien had posted two photos of him with Rizieq on his official Instagram account on Sunday morning.
A screen grab from Amien Rais' Instagram story shows him shaking hands with Rizieq Shihab on Saturday.
Another photo shows the National Mandate Party's (PAN) chief patron sitting next to and holding hands with Rizieq, presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto and two prominent Muslim figures, Slamet Maarif and Ansufri Idrus Sambo.
Slamet and Ansufri are alumni of the 212 group that staged a rally on Dec. 12, 2016, which was attended by hundreds of thousands of Muslims, that demanded the government jail former Jakarta governor Basuki "Tjahaja" Purnama. "Let's unite to save Indonesia," Amien said in the photo's caption.
Ansufri confirmed that they visited Rizieq to talk about the 2019 presidential election. Prabowo, who is running as a presidential candidate, is seeking to build a strong coalition to challenge President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
Previously, the 212 alumni declared its support for Rizieq as a potential presidential candidate.
"But Rizieq told us that he doesn't want to run in the upcoming presidential election. He's so selfless that he doesn't want to let down his supporters nor hurt his haters," Ansufri told tempo.co on Saturday.