Why Did Gibran Visit Bali's 'Bunt Kandang' 2 Times?

Vice President Gibran Rakabuming Raka while eating with Balinese residents at Mertasari Beach, Denpasar, Bali, Saturday (27/1/2024). (ANTARA/Ni Putu Putri Mulinari)

DENPASAR - Candidate for vice president number 2 Gibran Rakabuming Raka admitted that he regularly came to Bali not on purpose to garner voters, considering that the Island of the Gods is known as the home of the PDI-P and always wins in elections.

"Not all of my arrival to a place to garner votes, yes; it can be for friendship and others. Not everything is about politics," said Gibran at Mertasari Beach, Denpasar, Bali, as reported by ANTARA, Saturday, January 27.

It is known, throughout the entire 2024 election campaign, Gibran has visited the Island of the Gods twice. The first is on Tuesday (9/1) to have a dialogue with residents, attend declarations of support, and watch people's parties.

Gibran's visit to Bali was on Friday (26/1) to have a dialogue with young people. Then, Saturday morning, President Joko Widodo's eldest son enjoyed fitness tourism while cleaning the beach and having breakfast with the Balinese.

"(I) just stopped by, yesterday I finished from Papua, took a short transit one night, then just returned to Jakarta, then tomorrow I will go to Surabaya," said Gibran after eating with thousands of sympathizers.

Gibran's confession was also confirmed by the Head of the Prabowo-Gibran National Campaign Team, Rosan Perkasa Roeslani, who was also present at Mertasari Beach.

Rosan explained that the trip from Papua to Jakarta was quite long, so Gibran and TKN took the time to spend the night on the Island of the Gods while looking at the development of tourism.

Although there was no specific intention, according to Rosan, Gibrandi Bali's presence was one proof of his attention to Bali tourism, although taking advantage of the short time was also carried out in other places.

In addition, Gibranke Bali's arrival was also to maintain the positive trend of the Prabowo-Gibran candidate pair in the survey results.

"Of course, we must continue to come to greet, get aspirations and inspiration; so that the next step, if Prabowo-Gibran is elected, we already know what needs to be perfected, and indeed if tourism is tourism we have to come and see it firsthand, we can't just get input from afar," explained Rosan.

"Also encouraging environmental harmony, sustainability from Bali. So, not only encouraging tourism, but also sustainability, harmony," said Rosan.

The existence of Gibran in Bali on Friday coincided with the presidential candidate campaign number 1 Muhaimin Iskandar. Related to this, Rosan denied that Gibrandi Bali's presence deliberately took the same time as his rivals.

"Kamisihbikin program bukan berdasarkan atas pasangan calon lain seperti apa, tidak. Kami menjalankan program, visi, dan misi kami sesuai apa yang kami lihat apa yang kami lihat. Itu yang terbaik untuk pasangan calon kami," ujar Rosan.