He Said, The Gerindra-PKS Coalition Broke Up At The National Level And Infected Jakarta

JAKARTA - The Gerindra Party is proposing four new deputy governor candidates to PKS. Sandiaga Uno left the deputy governor seat because he was running as a vice presidential candidate to accompany Prabowo Subianto in the 2019 elections.

In fact, the Deputy Governor's quota has been approved to belong to the PKS. PKS has put forward two names, DPW PKS DKI General Secretary Agung Yulianto and former Bekasi Deputy Mayor Ahmad Syaikhu. However, until now the name has not been chosen for more than a year.

The reason for the stagnation of the process of finding the deputy governor was due to the change in members of the Jakarta DPRD and the ratification of the election rules (tatib) and the formation of an election committee (panlih).

Four names were put forward by the Gerindra Party, three of whom were party cadres, namely the Gerindra DPP Advisory Council Arnes Lukman, Gerindra Deputy Chairman Ferry Juliantono, and Gerindra Secretary General Ahmad Riza Patria. Meanwhile, the fourth person is the Regional Secretary of DKI Saefullah.

A political observer from Al-Azhar University Ujang Komarudin sees the Gerindra Party's move not only because of the stagnation of the deputy governor election process. But because the national political map has changed. The Gerindra Party has joined the Joko Widodo coalition because its general chairman, Prabowo Subianto, is the Minister of Defense.

In fact, the Gerindra Party was Jokowi's loyalist in the 2014 and 2019 elections. Gerindra Party formed a coalition with PKS against Jokowi's coalition. The Gerindra Party's attitude has changed the coalition of the Gerindra Party and PKS, not only at the national level, but also at the local level, including Jakarta.

"Gerindra's entry into Jokowi's administration, then PKS appears to be getting close to NasDem, which did not receive a ministerial share from Jokowi, changing the national to regional political constellation," Ujang told VOI Friday, November 8.

Ujang assessed that before the coalition split, the Gerindra Party gave up the vice governor's seat for PKS. However, after the Gerindra Party closed with Jokowi, this strategic vice chair was taken over again. Because, this chair was previously filled by Sandiaga Uno who is a cadre of the Gerindra Party.

"During the presidential election, there was an agreement that the PKS had [wagub] 's quota. However, after the presidential election the constellation changed, finally Gerindra did not want to hand over the strategic quota," he said.

A suitable candidate to be the Deputy Governor of Jakarta

Ujang said the Gerindra Party was a centralized party, whose policies came from the blessing of the general chairman and the board of advisors. Therefore, according to Ujang, Riza Patria has the most potential to become the Deputy Governor of Jakarta. This is because he often appears in the regions and is close to Prabowo.

"A potential name could be Ahmad Riza Patria. He also has a KNPI background. But, once again, politics has many possibilities," said Ujang.

Meanwhile, Ujang considered Saefullah's appearance of the four names put forward by the Gerinda Party to become vice governor. This is because strategic positions like this are certainly more suitable for party cadres who have fought for the party.

Unless, he added, there is another compromise. For example, PKS and Gerindra both insist on wanting their cadres to be number two in Jakarta and there is no common ground. Under these conditions, according to Ujang, Saefullah could be the mediator.

"They are looking for another way by proposing a neutral name. That's where the Regional Secretary can become an offer," he said.