Willing To Be General Chair Of The Gerindra Party Again, Prabowo's Value Observer Still Has Ambitions In The 2024 Presidential Election

Gerindra Party Chairperson Prabowo Subianto (Photo: Instagram @prabowo)

JAKARTA - Prabowo Subianto has been re-elected as General Chair of the Gerindra Party for the 2020-2024 period. The election of Prabowo as chairman is considered as fulfilling his ambition for the 2024 Presidential Election.

"To secure the presidential election, of course the position of Gerindra Party chairman must be held in his hands," said Executive Director of the Indonesia Political Review, Ujang Komarudin, when contacted by VOI, Saturday, August 8.

When the reins of the highest position in the party bearing the Garuda logo are held by someone else, Ujang assessed that Prabowo would find it difficult to determine a presidential candidate. This is because most people who sit as chairman of a party have the desire to run in the presidential election.

Prabowo's desire to run again as a presidential candidate, although he did not convey it openly, also prevented many potential figures within the party from appearing to show their abilities. Because, Ujang considered, Prabowo would not allow twin suns in his party.

"Because there is still Prabowo. Prabowo is the sun in Gerindra. So there cannot be twin suns in the party. So that the other suns still do not dare to appear," he said.

In addition, Ujang assessed that Prabowo's re-election as chairman of the Gerindra Party actually shows that the party has not been able to regenerate. This, said Ujang, also occurred in other parties, apart from the Gerindra party.

"This phenomenon in Gerindra is the same as the phenomenon in other parties such as Megawati, the Chairperson of the PDIP, Surya Paloh, the General Chair of the NasDem, and others who are still unable to regenerate the party," he said.

In line with Ujang, a political observer from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Aisah Putri Budiarti, said Prabowo's election as the Gerindra Party chairman actually indicates that the Minister of Defense still wants to try his luck again in the 2024 presidential election.

By becoming the chairman of the Gerindra Party, Putri assessed that Prabowo had a chance to advance in the five-year political arena

"Prabowo clearly already has the party as his political vehicle to advance in the 2024 elections and Prabowo can take care of the voters he had in the previous election and at least the Gerindra constituents," he said.

"This can at least be an important asset for Prabowo to advance in the 2024 presidential election," he added.

For Putri, Prabowo's re-election is seen as proof that Gerindra has been formed as a personal party that is only attached to one individual political elite. However, this is not abnormal because in Indonesia there are quite a number of parties that tend to be personal, such as the Democrat Party and the PDI-P.

Furthermore, Putri said that personal parties such as Gerindra and a number of other parties had indeed been formed from the start to promote a certain figure. Thus, the recruitment process tends not to be open.

"Leadership succession does not run with a change of leaders from outside the elite individual or their family," he said.

Previously, the Gerindra Party extraordinary Congress (KLB) officially re-elected Prabowo Subianto as the general chairman and chairman of the supervisory board in the 2020-2024 period.

Gerindra Party Spokesperson, Dahnil Anzar Simanjuntak said that all Gerindra Party DPD administrators have agreed to accept the accountability report of the 2015-2020 party supervisory board.

In addition, all representatives of the Gerindra Party in the regions from 34 provinces also agreed to ask Prabowo Subianto, who is now the Minister of Defense (Menhan) to lead the party again.

"So, it has been officially endorsed by the chairperson of the session Pak (Ahmad) Muzani that the General Chairperson of the Gerindra DPP and the Chair of the Board of Trustees are again led by Pak Prabowo Subianto," said Dahnil at the Gerindra KLB location, Hambalang, Bogor, West Java, Saturday, August 8.

It's just that Dahnil denied that Prabowo's re-election was proof of the failure of regeneration in the party. Because, he considered that this party had many figures who were ready to shine.

"But the trust given by Gerindra friends at the grassroots is still in Pak Prabowo. So it is not a matter of regeneration not growing, but it is a matter of trust," he concluded.

Prabowo has already participated in the Presidential Election three times. In 2009, Prabowo participated in the Presidential Election. But he became a deputy to accompany Megawati Sukarnoputri. In this presidential election, the winner is Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Budiono.

Then, in 2014 Prabowo stepped forward again. This time he became a presidential candidate accompanied by Hatta Rajasa. This pair lost to Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla.

In the 2019 election, Prabowo ran again as a presidential candidate. In this election he was accompanied by Sandiaga Uno. However, this pair lost again to Jokowi who was paired with Ma'ruf Amin.