Erick Thohir's Political Image Is Being Built, Just Waiting For The Moment To Be Looked At By Political Parties

JAKARTA - The movement of SOE Minister Erick Thohir in recent months is interesting to monitor. Erick does look more active on social media, from performance to life interactions. Some time ago, this man who was born in Lampung, May 30, 1970, went to the community by checking the stock of medicines at Kimia Farma pharmacy in Depok area. Erick also once gave the official Inter Milan jersey to a farmer.

Erick Thohir was the owner of Inter Milan mid 2013-2019. He acquired a 70 percent stake owned by Massimo Moratti.

Most recently, Erick Thohir "resigned" his position as Minister of SOEs for a day, Thursday 30 September. The figure who replaced her was Sharon Florencia, a woman who was selected in the Ministry of SOE's gender equality campaign program, titled #GirlsTakeover.

The name of the Chairman of the National Campaign Winning Team (TKN), Jokowi-Ma'aruf, is also included in the 2024 presidential election. In the Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) survey last August, Erick Thohir's electability even increased compared to April. His electability jumped sharply from 0.2 percent to 4.7 percent, approaching the Governor of West Java Ridwan Kamil. The Executive Director of Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO), Dedi Kurnia Syah, believes that Erick really wants to taste the 2024 presidential election contestation, so he is trying to get the public's attention.

"All names that are popular, especially those that are strategic in the government, I have confidence that they will definitely have the desire to participate in the 2024 presidential election," said Dedi Kurnia to VOI, Tuesday, October 5.

"The question is whether the opportunity is welcomed by the continuation of the political parties or not?" he continued.

According to Dedi, in terms of character, Erick Thohir is quite good. In terms of popularity too, he said, easy to build.

"At the ministry today, Erick Thohir occupies a fairly good position with Tito Karnavian. From the standpoint of non-cadre political parties in the cabinet, but from the sustainability perspective, Erick Thohir is still quite far away considering that all political parties that have the opportunity to carry the same prominent figure, "explained Dedi.

"So now we can see that there are political maneuvers starting from the ministerial program one day, including Erick Thohir going down to the fields and even greeting residents in the midst of his performance activities, even though it is not directly related to the SOE ministry or in Erick Thohir's workspace," he added. .

In addition, the activities of the former Chairperson of the Asian Games Organizing Committee have recently shown that the HIPMI cadre is trying to introduce himself as a figure who, apart from being popular, also hopes for a political party to raise his name as one of the candidates in the 2024 presidential election. About the subtle methods used by Erick Thohir to brand himself, Dedi considered it something normative. Because other characters also do the same thing.

"Even the senior figure Mahfud MD also interacts with citizens and is interactive on social media. Everything is of course in order to build a fairly close correlation with voters," said Dedi.

"If this method is considered more subtle, it's normal because Erick Thohir is a professional, he can't offer himself or suggest that Erick Thohir is a presidential candidate, it's impossible. Inevitably it will disrupt his relationship with the president, especially since 2021 is still very far away to get to 2024," explained Dedi.

It is undeniable, said Dedi, that Erick Thohir is indeed trying to build a political image that he as a professional minister is ready to become a politician.

"No matter how small the effort is, it will lead to building a political reputation as well as a political image that Erick Thohir is no longer a professional who is a minister, but he is a minister who tries to become a politician at the same time even without a political party," he explained.

Dedi added, there is nothing wrong if Erick Thohir has hopes and desires to participate in the 2024 presidential election contestation. "All citizens have rights, especially Erick Thohir has the ability, let alone has a fairly good capacity and record in top-level government circles," he said.