Nivell Rayda, Jakarta – The son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, said in a televised debate on Friday (Dec 22) that he wants to create 19 million jobs if elected as running mate to presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto at the Feb 14 presidential election next year.
It was the first time Mr Gibran, who is running as vice-president candidate with the current defence minister, has spoken candidly about the pair's economic vision for the country.
The Prabowo-Gibran ticket has been dominating the polls with two other hopefuls: former Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and former Central Java governor Ganjar Pranowo trailing behind.
The country's current president, popularly known as Jokowi, is barred by the country's Constitution from seeking another term.
Mr Gibran, the 36-year-old mayor of Surakarta, on Friday squared off with two political veterans: seasoned politician Mr Muhaimin Iskandar, who is partnering with Mr Anies; and Prof Mahfud MD, a renowned scholar and bureaucrat whom Mr Ganjar picked as his vice-presidential candidate.
The three took turns to present their insights and ideas about the country's economy, investment, trade, infrastructure and fiscal management.
Mr Gibran said he and Mr Prabowo want to continue and expand his father's downstreaming policies, infrastructure drive and programmes to develop the country's creative industry as well as the 60 million small and medium enterprises across the archipelago.
"If all four steps are taken, we hope 19 million jobs will be created," he said.
Mr Gibran also said the pair intends to continue his father's plan of moving the country's capital from Jakarta in the densely populated Java to Nusantara in the underdeveloped island of Borneo.
"Our big vision is continuation, acceleration and improvement (of existing policies)," he continued.
Meanwhile, Prof Mahfud, who currently sits in Mr Jokowi's cabinet as coordinating minister for politics, legal and security, believed that corruption eradication is key to developing the nation's economy.
"We are rich in natural resources and have many great workforce. The problem is corruption is rampant... as a result, we are poor," he said. "We must fight corruption.. So there will be economic prosperity as mandated by our Constitution."
Meanwhile, Mr Muhaimin, who is riding on a political platform which promises a change to how the country is run, said in his opening remarks that the Anies-Muhaimin ticket would roll out a number of incentives to the needy and aspiring entrepreneurs.
"We want social aid to continue and increase so people will have more buying power and thus drive our economy," he said, adding that if elected, 150 trillion rupiah (US$9.7 billion) will be earmarked to provide loans to small businesses.
Mr Muhaimin said the pair will introduce more taxes for the rich and lower the ones for people of middle income.
"Just imagine. 100 people in Indonesia have more wealth than 100 million Indonesians. This is injustice. We must fight it."A BATTLE OF WITS
This is the second debate organised by the country's General Election Commission (KPU).
The first debate was staged on Dec 12 which saw Mr Anies, Mr Prabowo and Mr Ganjar tackling the subject of law, human rights, corruption eradication, governance and democracy.
Although the Dec 22 debate only involved the VP running mates, it has been creating a lot of buzz with voters wondering how Mr Gibran, who has only been in the bureaucracy for two years, would stack up against his more experienced rivals.
Mr Muhaimin, 57, is a longtime politician who served as the minister for manpower between 2009 and 2014. Meanwhile, Prof Mahfud, 66, has decades of experience at the national stage, serving as cabinet members for two different presidents and chairing the Constitutional Court between 2008 and 2013.
Mr Gibran was originally not qualified to run in the presidential election because the regulation requires a presidential or vice presidential candidate to be at least 40 years of age.
But the Indonesia's Constitutional Court, which at the time was chaired by Mr Gibran's uncle, Prof Anwar Usman, ruled on Oct 16 that the age requirement does not apply to elected government officials.
The decision has sparked massive public outcry and protests.
Gibran's inexperience, however, did not show during Friday's debate, when the candidates each had to present their opening remarks, as he spoke his mind fluently in laying out his insights and visions within the allotted time.
This was again apparent during the debate's subsequent segments when the candidates were grilled by a panel of experts and later by one another which saw Mr Gibran at times having to deflect tough questions and comments from his opponents.
On one occasion, Mr Muhaimin criticised Mr Jokowi's new capital project, which Mr Prabowo and Mr Gibran have vowed to continue, and its lofty US$30 billion price tag.
"A fraction of (the budget) can fix the road for the whole of Kalimantan. We can build good schools in Kalimantan," Mr Muhaimin said in reference to the Indonesian part of Borneo Island, where the new capital is located.
Mr Gibran replied by pointing out that Mr Muhaimin attended the project's groundbreaking ceremony last year in his capacity as a deputy speaker of the parliament and chairman of the National Awakening Party (PKB), a member of Mr Jokowi's ruling coalition.
'I clearly remember you also came to (Nusantara) and celebrate (the project's groundbreaking). What is going on? You used to support and now you're against it just because you partner with Anies Baswedan who champions change," Mr Gibran said.
Friday's debate was also attended by the presidential candidates though they could not speak but could confer and discuss with their VP running mates.
A more civilised tone
Although there were a few heated exchanges of words, Friday's debate was largely tame with candidates mostly nodding at each other's remarks.
It was a stark contrast to the Dec 12 debate when Mr Anies, Mr Prabowo and Mr Ganjar lambasted the others' track records, shortcomings and controversial policies.
Both Mr Anies and Mr Ganjar were criticised by the other contestants for some of their past programmes during their time as governors of Jakarta and Central Java respectively.
Meanwhile, Mr Prabowo, a retired Army general who is gunning for the presidency for a third time, was questioned about his decision to pick the president's son as his running mate.
Despite public outcry and protests over the ruling, Mr Prabowo named Mr Gibran as his running mate on Oct 22.
Mr Prabowo defended his decision to pick Mr Gibran during the Dec 12 debate saying that his legal team advised that there was no problem.
"Let the people decide. If they don't like Prabowo-Gibran, there's no need to vote for us, and I'm not afraid of not having a position (in the government)," he said in a high voice.
At least three more debates will be staged before Indonesians hit the polls on Valentine's Day next year.
The next debate is scheduled for Jan 7, where the three presidential candidates will touch on the topics of defence, security, geopolitics and international relations. – CNA/ni(kb)
Source: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/indonesia-election-debate-gibran-muhaimin-mahfud-400672