Photo Billboards Of Jokowi And Prabowo Appear, Gerindra: Subtle Attacks, We Take Legal Paths

The Gerindra Aceh team showed banner of Prabowo Subianto circulating in Aceh, in Banda Aceh, Wednesday (21/9/2022). ANTARA/Rahmat Fajri

JAKARTA - The daily chairman of the Gerindra Party DPP, Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, again spoke about the attempt to thwart Gerindra Party chairman Prabowo Subianto as a presidential candidate (candidate) for 2024 through the installation of billboards.

According to the Deputy Speaker of the DPR, the attacks were carried out using subtle means. So, they prefer to solve it legally.

"This is a subtle attack. We don't want to speculate in the public sphere, we choose to go through the legal process," Dasco told reporters at the Senayan Parliament Complex, Jakarta, Thursday, September 22.

Dasco admits that there is a lot of encouragement to reveal to the public who is trying to thwart Prabowo. However, he said, Gerindra prefers to submit this case to the legal realm rather than speculating in the public sphere.

"Indeed, there are a lot of observers who say that their identity can be revealed, but we mostly don't want to speculate in the public sphere. We will submit it to legal channels," said Dasco.

To note, in some areas such as Madura, East Java, billboards are installed where there is a photo of Prabowo walking with Indonesian President Joko Widodo with Prabowo's composition on the right, Jokowi on the left. There is also the slogan 'Recover Faster, Rise Stronger'.

The billboard, which is dominated by green and white colors, also contains a quote from Prabowo in a respectful pose, 'Pak Jokowi's leadership is effective. I acknowledge that & respect'.

Regarding the narrative that was built on the billboard, Dasco admitted that it was difficult to explain it because his party wanted it to be investigated by the police. Because based on Gerindra's analysis, said Dasco, the narrative seems positive but it can actually lead Prabowo to fall.

"It's better that later in the legal process, law enforcement officials will review what we object to. And we think after we analyze it, it feels like content that at first glance looks positive but the result will be negative for Pak Prabowo," said Dasco.

Dasco assessed that the efforts made to thwart Prabowo were carried out systematically with methods that could not be seen by the layman.

However, if you look at the map of Prabowo's vote base in the various areas targeted for the billboard installation, Dasco said, it would certainly be a problem because it could lower the public's assessment of Prabowo.

"If it has been investigated later, moreover, we have mapped out the areas where Mr. Prabowo's rating is high, both in the provinces and districts/cities. Now this is what was then targeted and then billboards were installed which, according to our analysis, could lower Mr. Prabowo's rating," he explained. .

The Banten legislator said the Gerindra DPP had instructed cadres in the area to lower billboards, coordinate and report them to the local police.

"We asked the cadres to deploy because that's why we installed Pak Prabowo without permission. And then we asked the regions that were massively installed to coordinate or make reports to their respective Polda," concluded Dasco.