PDIP's Allegation Response To Budiman's Hijacking, Gerindra: Why Did The People's Party Blame, Dong's Internal Evaluation!

Illustration of the Gerindra Party campaign. (Partaigerindra.or.id)

JAKARTA - Deputy Chairperson of the Gerindra Party, Habiburokhman, responded to the statement by the Secretary General of the PDI-P, Hasto Kristiyanto, who accused his cadre Budiman Sudjatmiko of defecting and supporting Prabowo Subianto in the 2024 presidential election. Habiburokhman admitted that he was surprised by Hasto's accusation. He considered that Hasto should have evaluated internally his party instead of blaming other political parties. "If you don't support the presidential candidate from our party, we will evaluate internally, how come we beat people's parties, that could be us for a long time," said Habiburokhman at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Jakarta, Tuesday, August 22. Habiburokhman emphasized that Gerindra cannot prohibit someone from supporting certain presidential candidates. In this case, Prabowo Subianto, who has been nominated by the Greater Indonesia Awakening Coalition (KKIR). "We can't prevent people from supporting us. Just like we can't prevent our cadres, for example not supporting Pak Prabowo," he said. The Deputy Chairman of Commission III of the DPR also denied that his party was fighting against each other by receiving support from Budiman, as Hasto called. "We don't want to be bad, the mirror face is divided, it's about aspirations, yes democracy," he said. Even so, Habiburokhman said, PDIP is a friend of the Gerindra Party. In fact, he said, the friendship between the two parties had existed for a long time, although they were often opposite in national contestation. "Friends are never wrong in making our friendship, if they are wrong, maybe it's a misunderstanding. So Mr. Hasto, we respect him, he is a senior, our best friend, maybe a misunderstanding," said Habiburokhman. Previously, PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto assessed that the pro-Prabowo camp had hijacked its cadre, Budiman Sudjatmiko. In fact, he said, he seemed to be fighting against each other politically. Moreover, currently Ganjar has only received PDIP and PPP support, while Prabowo is supported by Gerindra, PKB, PAN and Golkar. "After ganging up on Ganjar Pranowo, they still use force persuasion to try to act unethically, apply divide at impera," said Hasto. According to Hasto, Prabowo's camp has proven self-confidence in facing the 2024 presidential election. "By doing devide et impera politics, it actually shows self-confidence from that party even though previously it has tried to gang up on Mr. Ganjar Pranowo, so that step will actually produce a positive energy for the movement of all PDI-P cadres," continued Hasto. Hasto then highlighted the location of the declaration of support for Prabowo and Budiman volunteers, carried out in Semarang, Central Java. According to him, this will actually make PDIP cadres in Central Java more solid.

He then reminded the incident in the 2019 Election. At that time, Prabowo's camp built a post in the Solo area, which is the place where Joko Widodo (Jokowi) came from. This action, said Hasto, even made the enthusiasm and militancy of PDIP cadres and supporters even bigger. "What happened actually woke the spirit of all PDI-P cadres, especially since the announcement was made in Central Java. This raises the militancy of all PDI-P cadres," said Hasto.