Do You Believe Kaesang Pangarep Will Not Run For Pilkada?

JAKARTA The level of public trust in President Joko Widodo has decreased. Even when Jokowi reportedly banned Kaesang Pangarep from running in the 2024 Simultaneous Pilkada, most of the people doubted his words.

Recently, the Supreme Court (MA) granted the request for judicial review rights (HUM) requested by Garuda Party Chairman Ahmad Ridha Sabana. The judicial review of the General Election Commission (KPU) was carried out in relation to the minimum age limit for candidates for governor and deputy governor.

On this decision, a person can nominate himself as a candidate for governor and deputy governor if he is 30 years old when inaugurated, not when appointed as a candidate pair. Meanwhile, candidates for regents and deputy regents as well as candidates for mayors and deputy mayors have a 25 year age limit when they are sworn in.

The decision is considered to have returned to the benefit of President Jokowi's family. The public linked this decision as a red carpet for the Chairman of PSI who is also Jokowi's youngest son, Kaesang Pangarep, to be involved in the 2024 Simultaneous Pilkada.

The opinion was strengthened by the circulation of news that Kaesang will run in this year's Jakarta DK gubernatorial election. He is said to be duet with Budi Djiwandono, Gerindra politician and Prabowo Subianto's nephew.

However, when rumors of Kaesang going forward in the 2024 Jakarta Pilkada have already spread throughout the country, Jokowi is trying to reduce it. He said that the former governor of DKI Jakarta had not yet allowed Si Bungsu to enter the Pilkada.

The story was revealed by PAN Chairman Zulkifli Hasan. He admitted that this story was conveyed by Jokowi after a meeting on Monday (3/6/2024).

"Earlier I asked Mr (Jokowi) after the meeting, 'Sir, what if Kaesang runs for Deputy Governor of Jakarta?' Wow, don't Mr. Zul," said the man who is familiarly called Zulhas, imitating Jokowi's words.

Unfortunately, Zulhas' claim did not make people believe it immediately. The public seems to already have an issue with Jokowi. Political observer and Executive Director of the Voxpol Center Research and Consulting, Pangi Syarwi Chaniago, said that Jokowi's previous track record made it difficult for the public to believe what the President said.

"Jokowi has always been unable to hold on to his words. It has been proven that he has always been like that, it is always the opposite," Pangi said when contacted by VOI.

Jokowi's consistency is inconsistent. So it's always the opposite, if he says no, it means going forward, and vice versa," added Pangi.

Pangi said it was possible for Kaesang Pangarep to run in the Pilkada event to be very wide open, especially after the Supreme Court added an interpretation of the age limit for regional head candidates. This is believed to be a red carpet for Kaesang, as his brother, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, had done.

Gibran ran as a vice presidential candidate after the Constitutional Court allowed presidential and vice presidential candidates to run in the 2024 presidential election even though they were not yet 40 years old, as long as they had experience as regional heads who were elected through elections.

The political observer at Al Azhar University Indonesia, Ujang Komarudin, also expressed his doubts. According to him, Jokowi is the same as other politicians whose statements can change at any time, according to interests.

"It's hard to believe. It's hard to say that Jokowi is right. It's hard to say that Jokowi's statement can be trusted," Ujang said, citing Kompas.

In fact, according to Ujang, Jokowi's statement could also be just a political gimmick with the aim of improving his image in the public eye towards the end of his term of office. Moreover, Jokowi continued to be labeled as a figure who was difficult to hold his statement, especially when discussing the political steps of his family members.

"Whatever it is, people have read, have seen and assessed. And if we read and guess about Jokowi's statement, yes, it can be just a gimmick," said Ujang.

"And it can also be to restore his image, which has always been considered a different statement," he concluded.

What is happening today, where the Supreme Court added that the interpretation of the age limit for regional head candidates in the 2024 Simultaneous Pilkada brought us to a previous story. Jokowi's response to Kaesang's political career was exactly the same as his response to Gibran before the 2024 presidential election.

When pulled back, on May 4, 2023, Jokowi was once asked by the media about rumors of the Prabowo-Gibran duet for the presidential election. What was Jokowi's answer at that time?

He asked the public to think logically because Gibran's age did not meet the requirements to become a presidential and vice-presidential candidate when referring to Law Number 7 of 2017 concerning Elections. At that time, the minimum age of the presidential and vice-presidential candidates was 40 years.

Apart from being constrained by age, Jokowi also doubts Gibran's ability, who has only served as mayor of Solo for two years.

But what happened? In front of Prabowo after leading the 2023 National Santri Day Apple in Tugu Pahlawan, Surabaya, May 22, 2023, Jokowi gave his blessing if his eldest son wanted to become Prabowo's vice presidential candidate.

The statement came after the Constitutional Court granted a judicial review lawsuit regarding the age limit for presidential and vice-presidential candidates to be under 40 years old on the condition that they had served as regional heads who were elected by election.

Long story short, Prabowo finally paired up with Gibran and defeated two of his competitors, Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD.