Anies Is Not Gentle, Talks Directly To Democrats Regarding Cak Imin's Vice Presidential Candidate

JAKARTA - The Coordinator for the DPP Spokesperson for the Democratic Party, Herzaky Mahendra Putra, said that Anies Baswedan's future presidential candidate did not directly convey his decision to approve the cooperation between NasDem and PKB and the determination of Muhaimin Iskandar as his companion to the Democrats.

In fact, the Democrats are part of the Coalition for Change that carries Anies Baswedan with NasDem and PKS.

"There is no (direct information from Anies, ed.). We only got confirmation, we called earlier because we took the initiative to ask to meet. Team 8 of us wanted to get direct confirmation whether it was true," said Herzaky Thursday, September 01 evening.

However, the direct request for confirmation from Anies was not obtained by the Democrats. Instead, Anies' envoy, who is a member of Team 8, Sudirman Said, confirmed the news of the NasDem and PKB political cooperation along with the appointment of PKB General Chair Muhaimin Iskandar as Anies' future vice presidential candidate.

After the Democrats received the information, the Secretary-General of Democrats Teuku Riefky Harsya, who is a Democratic representative in Team 8, issued a statement of attitude.

In his statement of attitude, Teuku Riefky assessed that the Democrats were forced to accept the unilateral decisions of Anies and NasDem.

Democrats, through their secretary general, also assessed that NasDem and Anies were taking unexpected and hard to believe.

Suddenly there was a fundamental and surprising change. On Tuesday night, August 29, 2023, at Nasdem Tower, unilaterally the Chairman of the Nasdem Party, Surya Paloh, suddenly appointed PKB Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar as Vice President Anies, without the knowledge of the Democratic Party and PKS.

That same night, Presidential Candidate Anies was summoned by Surya Paloh to accept the decision. A day later, August 30, 2023, Anies' presidential candidate in this very important matter did not convey directly to the highest leadership of PKS and the Democratic Party, but first sent Sudirman Said to convey it, "said Teuku Riefky.

Regarding the steps taken by NasDem and Anies, Herzaky considered that the Coalition for Change should consist of three parties. Thus, decisions relating to the coalition also involve all members.

PKB-NasDem formed its own coalition. (Anies) already with Cak Imin (Muhaimin Iskandar). It means that there is no commitment with the Coalition for Change. He left. He's left," said Herzaky, who is also the Head of the Democratic Strategic Communications Agency.

Thus, Herzaky conveyed that the Democrats held a meeting of the upper house in Cikeas, West Java, on Friday to discuss the party's stance in the coalition along with their support for Anies. The meeting was held because of the authority to determine the coalition and presidential candidates, the vice presidential candidate was decided by the Democratic Party's High Council.

So far, Anies has not commented on the political cooperation between NasDem and PKB, as well as the announcement of Muhaimin Iskandar as a candidate for vice president who will accompany him in the 2024 Presidential Election (Pilpres).

PKB has also not announced the cooperation or the appointment of their general chairman as Anies' future vice presidential candidate. The reason is, PKB is currently a member of the Advanced Indonesia Coalition which supports Prabowo Subianto as a presidential candidate.

However, the General Chairperson of NasDem Surya Paloh opened his voice regarding his party's political cooperation with PKB. He in front of reporters at NasDem Tower said that Anies-Muhaimin's determination was not yet official.

"The possibility in that direction could have happened but I don't think it was formalized in such a way, so we are waiting for the development of 1.2 today," said Surya Paloh at NasDem Tower, Jakarta, Thursday night.

Surya Paloh also ensured that the Coalition for Change would still exist as of Thursday, and he hoped that the Democrats would continue to join the Coalition to support Anies Baswedan to run for the 2024 Presidential Election (Pilpres).