Family drama rarely translates into good politics as Indonesia already knows all too well, says ex-journalist Warief Djajanto Basorie.
Indonesia's Defence Minister and presidential candidate, Prabowo Subianto and his running mate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, who is the eldest son of Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Oct 25, 2023. has enjoyed consistently high approval ratings, better even than India’s popular Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In recent months, Mr Jokowi has achieved as high as 81 per cent, an extraordinary figure given he first took office as president in October 2014.
Yet jumping through this legal loophole could taint Mr Jokowi’s legacy. The controversy here is that Constitutional Court Chief Justice Anwar Usman is also the president’s brother-in-law, married to Jokowi’s younger sister, Idayati. He did not recuse himself from the ruling process, ignoring an established convention that justices do not participate in a case that can involve a family member.
On the same day, a civil society group TPDI reported Mr Jokowi, Mr Anwar Usman, Mr Raka, and Jokowi’s second son, Mr Kaesang Pangarep, to the Corruption Eradication Commission for alleged collusion and nepotism in the Constitutional Court’s Oct 16 ruling. Mr Pangarep, 27, chairs the Solidarity Party of Indonesia that engages young people, and the party has endorsed the Subianto-Raka ticket, making it a nine-party coalition.But the apparent nonchalance could mask trouble for Mr Raka.
There is a strong “ProJo” body of supporters that campaigned for Jokowi in 2014 and 2019 and have since vocally supported Mr Subianto. The third presidential candidate trailing behind Mr Subianto and Mr Pranowo in polling is past Jakarta governor Anies Baswedan.Setting aside questions of nepotism or disloyalty, the electoral question is whether Mr Raka is an asset or liability for Mr Subianto.
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