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Prabowo, Megawati throw support behind Solo mayor for next Jakarta governor

Jakarta Globe - March 16, 2012

Ezra Sihite – Top Indonesian politicians Prabowo Subianto and Megawati Soekarnoputri have agreed to back the mayor of the Central Java town of Solo, Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, in the upcoming Jakarta gubernatorial race.

Prabowo, the founder of Gerindra Party, and Megawati, the chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and the former president of Indonesia, met on Thursday afternoon in Lenteng Agung, South Jakarta, to discuss the issue.

They came out with an agreement to nominate Jokowi for the next Jakarta governor, the secretary-general of Gerindra, Ahmad Muzani, told journalists in Jakarta on Friday.

"We've seen that Solo, a city with dynamic residents, has good administration and environment. The leader listens to the aspirations of the people and the people tell the leader their aspirations," Ahmad said.

"He [Jokowi] has well developed the [local traditional] markets. The city has good transportation and he has managed to turn it into a tourist city. In our opinion, Jakarta has been facing problems [Solo] once dealt with."

Ahmad added Gerindra and PDI-P had to declare their candidate because the deadline for registration is on Monday.

Neither Gerindra nor PDI-P has officially declared their support for Jokowi, but the Thursday meeting between Prabowo and Megawati will very likely cancel intentions to support the incumbent Jakarta governor, Fauzi Bowo, for his re-election bid, as was previously voiced by other senior politicians from the two parties.

The Democratic Party, which had earlier hinted support for Fauzi, has also not yet officially declared support for a candidate. Fauzi has only secured backing from the National Mandate Party.

Another major party in the Jakarta Council, the Golkar Party, has said it will nominate South Sumatra Governor Alex Noerdin for the top Jakarta post.

Aside from Fauzi, Alex and Jokowi, independent candidates Faisal Basri, an economist, and Hendardji Soepandji, a retired Army general, have declared their bid for the Jakarta gubernatorial election on July 11. (BeritaSatu/JG)