Is It True That The Vulgar Attack Against Prabowo Subianto Could Be A Master's Food Weapon?

Prabowo Subianto, Ganjar Pranowo, and Anies Baswedan conveyed ideas in the second presidential candidate debate at Istora Senayan, Sunday (7/1/2024). (VOI/Bambang E Ros)

JAKARTA Anies Baswedan's attack on Prabowo Subianto, which is increasingly vulgar, risks building sympathy for the number two presidential candidate (candidate), according to political observer Dedi Kurnia Syah. Meanwhile, another expert said Ganjar Pranowo appeared surprising in the second presidential candidate debate.

The General Election Commission (KPU) held a debate on the second presidential candidate at Istora Senayan, Sunday (7/1/2024) night. Attended by three presidential candidates namely Anies Baswedan, Prabowo Subianto, and Ganjar Pranowo, the debate raised the theme of defense, security, international relations, globalization, and geopolitics.

After the debate, Anies and Ganjar were considered to have more control over Prabowo, even on several occasions the number one presidential candidate was involved in a heated argument with the Minister of Defense. Anies' performance in the debate reaped a lot of praise, he even became a trending topic on social media X. However, the attack by the former governor of DKI Jakarta, who is increasingly vulgar, is feared to attract sympathy for Prabowo.

During the debate, Anies and Prabowo were involved in hot arguments several times. Anies Baswedan dared to criticize Prabowo even about personal matters. It didn't stop there, Anies also declared a low assessment of Prabowo.

Executive Director of Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurnia Syah said Anies appeared confident because he believed his loyalist group was quite strong. However, according to Dedi, Anies' attack on Prabowo risks being the master's weapon.

"This risks building sympathy for Prabowo, a critical attitude that is currently not in demand in Indonesia, Anies should maintain his attitude, not be vulgar in attacking," Dedi told VOI.

Presidential candidate number two Prabowo Subianto and Presidential Candidate number three Ganjar Pranowo in the second presidential candidate debate at Istora Senayan, Sunday (7/1/2024). (VOI/Bambang E Ros)

Overall, Dedi considered that there was nothing surprising in last night's debate. He hopes Ganjar Pranowo can be more harsh in criticizing Prabowo in order to get attention that was not obtained in the first debate.

In terms of ideas and ideas, Ganjar and Anies are clearer than Prabowo. While the performance of the debate, Anies can still be called the most performing, although in general Ganjar and Prabowo are also not less agile," Dedi added.

Before the debate begins, Prabowo is predicted to master the second presidential candidate debate because the theme raised is in accordance with his background and experience so far. But unfortunately, Prabowo is considered difficult to bring out his best potential in a debate event.

Contacted separately, geopolitical analyst and Hankam Yulis Susilawaty assessed Prabowo's appearance beyond public expectations. One of the highlights of Yulis was when Ganjar skakmat Prabowo was related to defense in Indonesia. Several times Prabowo said the data provided by Ganjar and his team was inaccurate. One of them is about the Global Peace Index Indonesia, which Ganjar said decreased.

When Ganjar asked Prabowo to issue data to the public, Prabowo admitted that he could not provide a complex explanation due to the limited time given in the 2024 presidential candidate debate.

"As a Minister of Agriculture, Prabowo was previously predicted to have the most control over the theme of this debate. But unfortunately he couldn't. Prabowo should have been able to collaborate or explain the most substance of the questions," said Yulis during a conversation with VOI.

"This can be a blunder. On the one hand, he is predicted to dominate the forum, but on the other hand it becomes a weak point. In fact, the number one presidential candidate is not substantial, but it is not visible because he has already highlighted the lack of performance of the Ministry of Agriculture," Yulis added.

The same thing was also conveyed by Dedi, who said that Prabowo was not able to bring out his best potential. According to him, Prabowo only conveyed normative things, even though he was not able to convey what he had been doing so far.

"It could be that he himself has difficulty sorting out his achievements throughout the leadership of the Ministry of Defense," Dedi explained.

Meanwhile, Prabowo's emotional attitude has attracted attention again, including from a political observer from the University of Jember, DR. Muhammad Iqbal. He considered Anies and Ganjar to have more control over Prabowo. Even though the two presidential candidates have no experience in defense and security such as Prabowo.

"The power of the material is good at presentations and responding to candidates, I think the highest is in the Anies Presidential Candidate. Next, Ganjar is slightly below Anies. Meanwhile, Prabowo is actually the worst, does not focus, and looks very emotional many times," said Iqbal, quoting Antara.

"It's a shame, if it's only in my presidential candidate debate forum Prabowo, he's already very emotional, especially if later in the real domestic and world communication forums," he added.