Fulfill Prabowo's Invitation Saturday Afternoon, Chairman Of PAN: Maybe Talk About The Big Coalition

Minister of Trade Zulkifli Hasan. (Photo: Doc. Ministry of Trade)

JAKARTA - Chairman of the DPP National Mandate Party (PAN) Zulkifli Hasan (Zulhas) will visit the residence of Gerindra Party Chair Prabowo Subianto on Jalan Kertanegara, Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, today at 15.00 WIB. Zulhas said his visit was in order to fulfill Prabowo's invitation. He will attend with MPP Chairman PAN Hatta Rajasa, Secretary General Edi Suparno, Deputy General Chair Yandri Susanto, Deputy Chairperson of Viva Yoga, Chairman of the PAN faction of the DPR Saleh Daulay, and Chairman of PUAN Intan Fauzi.

"I will fulfill Pak Prabowo's invitation with the PAN DPP management," Zulhas told reporters, quoted on Saturday, April 8.

Nevertheless, Zulhas admitted that he did not know what he would discuss with Prabowo in the meeting later this afternoon. "I don't know yet, because I was invited," he said. However, the Minister of Trade did not rule out the possibility that there would be talks about the follow-up to the discourse on forming a major coalition initiated by five political party leaders when meeting Jokowi at PAN headquarters last weekend.

"Because this has entered the political year, it is also possible to talk about it (the big coalition, ed)," said Zulhas. Although he emphasized that PAN is still in the United Indonesia Coalition (KIB) with Golkar and PPP, Zulhas admits that he is communicating with other government-supporting political parties related to this large coalition.

"PAN has remained solid at KIB with Golkar and PPP. (But) All parties of KIB members are indeed in talks with the coalition parties of the government, Gerindra, PKB and PDIP as a continuation of the idea of forming a national coalition," explained Zulhas. Previously, the Chairman of the DPP PAN Saleh Partaonan Daulay revealed that today's meeting of Zulhas and Prabowo to stay in touch and at the same time equalize perceptions related to the formation of a major coalition initiated by five political parties at PAN headquarters. "God willing, this is part of the friendship of perceptions again (related to the formation of a major coalition)," he said, Thursday, April 6, evening. The chairman of the PAN faction in the DPR also brought up PAN togetherness with Prabowo, which had been running for 10 years. It is known that PAN became Prabowo's supporting party in the 2014 and 2019 presidential elections. Therefore, according to him, the PAN and Gerindra meeting on Saturday will be a regular meeting of the two friends. The discussion, said Saleh, would certainly discuss things that were mild. "We need to remember that we have been 10 years with Prabowo. So we are actually with Pak Prabowo, the usual meeting, which is extraordinary if we meet with other candidates," he added. Saleh, the meeting was also intended to keep the situation conducive ahead of the 2024 election. PAN hopes, there will be no more divisions like what happened in the last election.

"Maybe it's because of the dynamics, people are still guessing who (candidate) is, so it's a little fun. Even though what is being discussed is how this nation is, so that during the election we hope there won't be just divisions. It's a lot of time," he explained. "Now the kampret tadpoles have started to disappear, before the election don't open this Pandora box again. We hope so," added Saleh.