Between PAN And NasDem, Where Did Ridwan Kamil Land?

West Java Governor Ridwan Kami; (Photo: Instagram @ridwankamil)

JAKARTA - West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil has stated that he is ready to become a presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election if there are political parties that support him. Currently, there are two political parties that are eyeing the former mayor of Bandung. Namely the National Mandate Party (PAN) and the National Democratic Party (NasDem).

Later, it was rumored that Ridwan Kamil would join PAN. On the other hand, NasDem is considered the most suitable for the man who is familiarly called Kang Emil because he was more instrumental in leading him to lead West Java. Political communication observer at Esa Unggul University, Jamiluddin Ritonga, assessed that if Ridwan Kamil joined PAN, there would be many benefits to PAN. The reason is that some West Java residents who have supported Emil actually have the opportunity to switch to PAN. "They will change their choice of where Ridwan Kamil is anchored. Some of the younger generation also admire Ridwan Kamil. They also have the opportunity to become PAN supporters," Jamiluddin said in a statement received by VOI, Wednesday, October 13.

If some residents of West Java and some of the younger generation support Ridwan Kamil, he continued, it will certainly increase the electability of PAN. Although the increase in PAN's electability is not expected to be significant because the residents of West Java and some of the other younger generation may not follow Ridwan Kamil. "They really admire Ridwan Kamil but not for PAN. Therefore, they are likely to look for other figures who are in line with their ideals," he explained.

Jamiluddin said that Ridwan Kamil would have more to lose if he joined PAN because most of his supporters would flee. According to him, this does not seem to be comparable to the political gains that Ridwan Kamil received from PAN.

"PAN can indeed be a boat for Ridwan Kamil in the 2024 presidential election. However, PAN's vote acquisition in the 2019 legislative election is relatively small to be able to carry Ridwan Kamil as a presidential candidate," explained Jamiluddin.

Therefore, he added, it is unlikely that PAN can carry Ridwan Kamil as a presidential candidate. Meanwhile, other parties certainly find it difficult to form a coalition with PAN just to make Ridwan Kamil a presidential candidate. The reason, he said, was that Ridwan Kamil's electability was not too good when compared to Prabowo Subianto, Anies Baswedan, and Ganjar Pranowo. This will happen if PAN is able to lobby other parties to form a coalition.

"Therefore, it is better for Ridwan Kamil to move closer to another party whose vote acquisition in the 2019 legislative election is greater than PAN. A party like this has greater political bargaining power to lead Ridwan Kamil to become a presidential candidate," Jamiluddin said. Kamil. Because, when Ridwan Kamil was running for governor of West Java, the party created by Surya Paloh became the main supporter. "So, there is already a special closeness between Nasdem and Ridwan Kamil," explained Jamiluddin.

In addition, he said, Ridwan Kamil seemed more nationalist so that it would be in line with NasDem, which is also a nationalist.

"If Ridwan Kamil joins NasDem, his supporters who are also a lot of nationalists will not cause many problems. Ridwan Kamil's supporters have a great chance to also join NasDem," said Jamiluddin.

Meanwhile, according to him, Ridwan Kamil's chances of becoming a presidential candidate are also greater because until now there has been no prominent NasDem cadre. This is because the electability of NasDem cadres has yet to appear.

"Of course this is a big opportunity for Ridwan Kamil to become a presidential candidate. This choice is better if Ridwan Kamil really intends to join a political party to run for president," said Jamiluddin. Previously, the Governor of West Java, Ridwan Kamil, admitted that he was open to running in the 2024 presidential election contestation. He stated that he was ready to run if there was an open door from a political party that would support him. "So in 2024, where my destiny is to pick me up, it won't be a problem. But if there is an open door, for example from PAN, I'll say bismillah," said Ridwan Kamil at the National Workshop on the National Mandate Party (PAN) in Bali, Tuesday, October 5. The man who is familiarly called Kang Emil recounted, when he was destined to become the Governor of West Java. He said that being a leader is worship so he is waiting for God's will.

"So I'm the Governor of West Java because God wants, God will stop it because God wants it," said Emil.

Ridwan Kamil (Photo via Twitter @ridwankamil)

NasDem Once Offered Ridwan Kamil to Participate in the Presidential Candidate Convention

Last June, the Chairman of the NasDem Party, Surya Paloh, once offered Ridwan Kamil to join the NasDem Party presidential candidate convention. The NasDem Party does plan to hold a presidential candidate convention. This event is planned to be held in collaboration with other parties to meet the minimum requirement for a presidential nomination threshold of 20 percent of seats in the House of Representatives.

On several previous occasions, a number of NasDem officials said they were exploring communication with political parties to hold this joint convention. Apart from Ridwan Kamil, DKI Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan and East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa were also expected to attend the convention. The NasDem Party, Ahmad Ali, confirmed that the Governor of West Java, Ridwan Kamil, had met with Surya Paloh. Emil, as Ridwan Kamil is known, previously said this on the sidelines of his visit in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Thursday, June 3.

Both Emil and Ali did not specify when the meeting took place. But according to Ali, Surya Paloh had several times met the former mayor of Bandung.

Ahmad Ali also admitted that the general chairman discussed the NasDem Party convention plan in a meeting with Emil. "Saying that we will carry out the convention, inviting us to follow the convention, it's a standard thing," said Ali, Sunday, June 6, 2021.

Ali said that NasDem had decided that the determination of the party's presidential candidate would be held through a convention. Therefore, he said, Surya Paloh did not talk about supporting each other individually. "If the meeting with political figures, regional figures, it is not in the contestation to support the presidential election, because it has been determined that it will go through a convention," he said.

West Java Governor Ridwan Kamil in Nusa Dua, Badung, Bali (Dafi/VOI)