Behind Airin's Supporting Body Rachmi Diany, Manuver Attracts The Golkar Party In The Banten Pilkada

PDI-P General Chair Megawati Soekarnoputri gave the party's decree (SK) to the candidate for governor of Banten Airin Rachmi Diany. (ANTARA/Hafidz Mubarak A/app/foc/pri)

JAKARTA The Golkar Party withdrew support for the Andra Soni-Dimyati Natakusumah pair in the 2024 Banten Regional Head Election (Pilkada). The party bearing the banyan symbol finally decided to support its own cadre, Airin Rachmi Diany. This decision became a plot of twist on the first day of registration for the 2024 Simultaneous Pilkada.

Airin did not have the support of the Golkar Party in the Banten Pilkada, after they chose to carry the Andra Soni-Dimyati Natakusumah pair. The support was given after Golkar lost Airlangga Hartarto who resigned, and was later replaced by Bahlil Lahadalia.

As one of the best cadres to have, Golkar's decision to release Airin was seen by many observers as a blunder. Various speculations emerged when this yellow party chose to throw away its own cadres. This makes the assumption that Airin was deliberately sacrificed by Golkar for the sake of a political concession, whether it's a ministerial position or another position.

However, after receiving a threat from PDIP, Golkar turned around and chose to carry Airin-Ade in the Banten Pilkada.

"For Banten Province, what is certain is that friends are waiting, from yesterday, this is indeed a long process. Indeed, good things must be a lot of interest," said Bahlil at the Golkar Party DPP Office, Slipi, West Jakarta, Tuesday (27/8/2024).

The fate of Airin, which was neglected by his own party, was used by PDIP. They officially brought the former Mayor of South Tangerang to pair up with PDIP cadre, Ade Sumardi, at the Announcement of the Regional Head Candidate (Deputy Head) for Regional Head (Cakada) Wave Three at the PDIP DPP Office, Menteng, Jakarta, Monday (26/8).

However, on this occasion, PDIP Chairman Megawati Soekarnoputri had asked Airin to always wear red-black clothes that were identical to PDIP even though they were not her cadres.

Not only that, Megawati also challenged the Mayor of South Tangerang for the 2011-2021 period to move to become a PDIP cadre. Megawati's appearance seemed to make Golkar change his mind and finally return to support Airin-Ade.

Executive Director of Indonesia Political Opinion (IPO) Dedi Kurnia Syah said the maneuvers carried out by Golkar were interesting. Golkar's decision to finally carry Airin-Ade was considered by Dedi as a bargaining process with the Advanced Indonesia Coalition (KIM) Plus which was fronted by the chairman of the Gerindra Party as well as the Elected President in 2024-2029 Prabowo Subianto.

"Golkar is now synonymous with Jokowi, where Bahlil is Jokowi's closest figure. There could be a bargaining connection regarding the change in Golkar's decision," said Dedi to VOI.

After training support for Airin, Dedi suspects this decision could widen, including Golkar withdrawing support to Ridwan Kamil in Jakarta and choosing to carry other candidates.

"Because in terms of political relations, what Golkar has decided should be difficult to replace considering that Golkar and Prabowo already have a coalition commitment, unless there are new problems that start to break up internally with KIM Plus," he added.

Airin has a big role in the victory of the Prabowo Subianto-Gibran Rakabuming Raka pair in the 2024 presidential election in the Banten region. Airin served as Chairman of the Prabowo-Gibran Regional Campaign Team in the province.

Prabowo-Gibran's success in getting 4,035,052 votes in Banten could not be separated from Airin's hard work and his team. This number of votes is far superior to the pair Anies Baswedan-Muhaimin Iskandar who received 2,451,383 votes and Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD 720,275 votes.

Apart from having a big role in Prabowo-Gibran's victory in the presidential election, Airin's electability in a number of survey institutions has also been positive. The Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI), for example, shows that Airin is far ahead of the gubernatorial candidate from the Gerindra Party, Andra Soni. Airin's electability reached 77.3 percent, while Andra Soni only reached 10 percent.

Meanwhile, from the Kompas Research and Development survey on June 15-20, 2024, Airin's electability was also the largest, reaching 38.3 percent.

Executive Director of Indonesian Political Parameters Adi Prayitno said that Golkar's decision to carry Airin in the Banten Pilkada was proof that the party was in a corner position, especially since PDIP also teased the former South Tangerang Mayor to join.

Adi saw that Golkar was worried about losing support from the Airin family in Banten. As is known, Airin's extended family is the locomotive of the Golkar Party in Banten.

"So, if Airin moves to another 'family', of course a big loss for Golkar," said Adi.

He added that Golkar previously had no choice when joining KIM Plus who carried Andra Soni, so he chose to leave Airin even though his electability was the highest in Banten.

However, the Constitutional Court's decision regarding the nomination threshold or threshold succeeded in changing the constellation of the Banten Pilkada, thus allowing Airin Rachmi Diany to advance even without the support of a fat coalition.

"I suspect parties with good cadre electability but are forced to join KIM, so one by one they will leave Kim, carry their own cadres," Adi explained.

"It is very risky for Golkar if it does not carry Airin. Because the Golkar bases in Banten can king and follow where Airin's political support goes," he added.