20,000 Santri From 15 Islamic Boarding Schools Throughout East Java Declaration Support Prabowo-Giban

The East Java students declared their support for Prabowo Gibran in Madiun, January 23 (Ist)

As many as 20,000 students from Islamic boarding schools (Ponpes) throughout East Java expressed support for the Prabowo-Gibran pair in the 2024 presidential election.

The declaration was held at Rejo mulyo Field, Madiun City, East Java on Tuesday, January 23 and was initiated by the National Youth Voter Campaign Team for Security Defense (TKN Fanta Hankam) Prabowo-Gibra by inviting KH. Maski and his staff consisting of dozens of Kyai in 15 Islamic boarding schools.

Deputy Commander of TKN Fanta and General Chairperson of TKN Fanta Hankam Ulta Levenia Nababan said all residents and students in Madiun City also enlivened this grand event to win Presidential and Vice Presidential Candidates, Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming in the 2024 General Election.

"The grand declaration of these students shows that more and more young people support Prabowo-Gibran. We believe that a wave of support from multiethnics and young people can make Prabowo-Gibran's electability even more neglected," said Ulta.

Ulta added that without using identity politics strategies, Paslon Prabowo-Gibran could be accepted by Santri and the Kyai.

"Our campaign does not use identity politics but we managed to win the hearts of the Santri and Kyai in East Java," he said.

The management of At-Thoillah Islamic Boarding School in Madiun City, East Java, Kyai Khafidz Izzudin, as the person in charge of the event said that the idea of holding this grand declaration was a form of participating in the national political arena.

"This is a form of our dedication and intention to step down and contribute to welcoming Indonesia Gold in 2045 and making the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia a developed, strong and prosperous country," he said.

Kyai Khafidz also explained, as a Religious Education organization, his party has carried out various activities in various fields in order to respond to issues that develop in the country and actively participate in advancing the nation.

The event coordinator, Gus Maulana, also said that on average the students and Kyai who were present were originally supporters of candidate pair 01, but after studying the idea later as well as the candidate pair campaign strategy number 2, his party was determined to support Prabowo-Gibran, despite threats and intimidation during the process of implementing the Grand Declaration.

"Because this is a declaration of transfer of support from Paslon No. 1 to Paslon No. 2, in preparation for this event we received a lot of intimidation and threats from supporters of Paslon No.1, but we are still determined and succeeded in implementing this Grand Declaration to open the eyes of the community to support Prabowo-Gibran," he concluded.