Meeting Ridwan Kamil, Prabowo Subianto Called Observer Wants To Secure West Java Votes In The Presidential Election

DOK VOI/Prabowo Subianto

JAKARTA - The meeting of the Minister of Defense who is also the General Chair of the Gerindra Party, Prabowo Subianto, with the Governor of West Java, Ridwan Kamil, was in the spotlight.

Political observer from Al Azhar University Indonesia, Ujang Komarudin, saw that there was an interest in the 2024 presidential election that was tucked between the two meetings.

Many predict that Prabowo will run for president, while Ridwan Kamil is the number one person in West Java. Moreover, Jabat is Gerindra's voice barn.

"At the very least, Prabowo wants to secure votes in West Java. This means that even if Ridwan Kamil does not become a presidential and vice presidential candidate, his position is an influential person in West Java society to choose Prabowo," Ujang told VOI, Tuesday, June 22.

The executive director of the Indonesia Political Review (IPR) considered it reasonable for all figures, including Prabowo, to establish a relationship with Ridwan Kamil as the governor of West Java. This is because the Java-Bali region is the largest voter in Indonesia, especially West Java.

"I saw it like that. Previously, Anies met, then other figures, it was in order to approach Ridwan Kamil to keep their voices, because West Java became the largest voter in Indonesia," explained Ujang.

Regarding the candidate pair for the 2024 presidential election, Ujang assessed that Gerindra would be difficult if Prabowo paired up with Ridwan Kamil. Because, RK alias Emil, does not have a party. Meanwhile, Gerindra itself only got 12.57 percent of the vote in the 2019 election.

"This means that he needs another party to be able to build a coalition. Most likely Prabowo is looking for a figure who has a party or at least a figure supported by the party, the question of who is paired with Ridwan Kamil is a bit difficult," said Ujang.

This includes the long-term vision of Ridwan Kamil's presidential election ticket from Gerindra. According to Ujang, it is still not certain because politics is very dynamic.

"Political developments cannot be read until now, because for the 2024 calculation, we still don't know," he said.

After all, continued Ujang, Gerindra was disappointed when it supported Ridwan Kamil as mayor of Bandung. However, Gerindra was betrayed during the West Java Pilkada.

"But because of the context of the presidential election, because they both have the same interests, they meet each other, stay in touch with each other politically to have their own agendas," said Ujang.

Previously, West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil met with the Minister of Defense who is also the general chairman of the Gerindra Party Prabowo Subianto in Jakarta, Monday afternoon, June 21.

The contents of the meeting were revealed by Ridawan Kamil Ridwan Kamil through his personal Instagram account, @ridwankamil on the same day.

"Together with the Minister of Defense, Mr. @prabowo Subianto, we discussed various development plans for strengthening human resources in West Java, including the development of the Defense University campus in Sukabumi," Emil wrote as quoted by VOI, Tuesday, June 22.

Emil and Prabowo also discussed the preparation of a training center and defense education in Bogor to be prepared as a COVID-19 Emergency Hospital.

Emil said Prabowo would also direct Gerindra West Java to support West Java Champion development programs, including in handling the COVID-19 pandemic.