RK Needs New Cantolan To Maintain Popularity

JAKARTA UI political observer, Cecep Hidayat assessed that Ridwan Kamil needed a new hook to treat his popularity as a national-scale politician after losing to Pramono Anung in the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada.

One way that might be passed is to join the Prabowo-Gibran government cabinet. Second, he can strengthen his position in Golkar or there can be opportunities to lead the party. However, I think it is a bit difficult because there are still many other Golkar figures and have bigger influence and finances," he said, Sunday, December 15, 2024.

He explained that RK felt the defeat in the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada because it had the potential to dim his political career because he did not hold public positions. RK, continued Cecep, was like being provoked by KIM when he released West Java and chose to compete in Jakarta. Moreover, before the issuance of the Constitutional Court's decision which cut the terms of nomination of regional heads, it is predicted that RK will pass as Anies Baswedan's successor.

In addition to joining the cabinet or getting a strategic position in Golkar, Cecep said that RK could play an important role as a figure outside the government who has attention to sustainable development or technological innovation in order to continue to be highlighted by the camera in order to maintain its popularity. Along with that, RK also needs to increase support at the national level and political networks outside West Java.

"Because, RK's political investment is only strong in West Java. If he has a dream in 2029, he must take advantage of this five years to increase support at the national level to expand political constituents and networks outside West Java," he said.

As is known, Ridwan Kamil and his partner Suswono decided not to file a lawsuit against the results of the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada to the Constitutional Court. RK received the results of the Jakarta KPU's decision by congratulating Pramono Anung and Rano Karno. According to the official Jakarta KPU count, Pramono-Rano won 2,183,239 votes or 50.07 percent of the total voters' votes were valid, while Ridwan Kamil-Suswono won 1,718,160 or 39.4 percent and Dharma Pongrekun-Kun Wardana won 10.53 percent of the vote.