Yustinus Paat, Jakarta – The chairman of Prabowo Subianto's presidential campaign team on Sunday refuted accusations that he had ever predicted the candidate will serve for only two years if elected and will be replaced by his running mate Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
Rosan Roeslani said he was "deeply disturbed" by the accusations from defense analyst Connie Rahakundini Bakrie, who appeared in separate videos launching a barrage of verbal attacks on Prabowo and Gibran, the son of President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
He was responding to accusations from Connie, who during a gathering on Friday claimed that she had been invited for a meeting and offered to join the campaign team by Rosan.
She said Rosan had told her that if Prabowo wins the presidency, he will "serve for two years and Gibran will take over for the remaining three years."
"Those remarks came from Mr. Rosan, the former [Indonesian] ambassador to the United States," Connie said. The clip of her statement went viral on social media platforms.
There is also a second video of Connie delivering similar accusations on a different occasion.
In response, Rosan fired back at the analyst, saying it was Connie herself who made the wild speculation.
"The statement speculating that [Prabowo] is meant to serve for just two years didn't come from my mouth. It was she who said 'He will serve for just two years or less ... my intelligence said Prabowo may be poisoned'. And I replied 'It's inappropriate to discuss such things'," Rosan clarified in a news conference.
Rosan also revealed that Connie, during the meeting, expressed a desire for a cabinet position in the event of Prabowo's victory.
"Madame Connie told me she wants to become the vice foreign minister or the vice defense minister," Rosan said, emphasizing that he couldn't respond to the request as the appointment of cabinet members would be at Prabowo's discretion.
According to Rosan, two other persons attended the meeting between him and Connie.
"The topic of the discussion can be verified, but I deeply regret the statements from Madame Connie who offered little more than hoaxes against Prabowo and me in particular," Rosan said.