SMRC Survey: The Majority Of Prabowo Voters Don't Care Their Presidential Candidates Have Been Involved In Kidnapping Activists Or Not

Gerindra Chairman Prabowo Subianto with PKB Chairman Muhaimin Iskandar/DOK ANTARA

JAKARTA - The Saiful Mujani Research and Consulting (SMRC) Survey Institute released a poll on cases related to political figures who will become presidential candidates in 2024. One of the cases that became survey material was the kidnapping of activists in 1997-1998 which resulted in the dismissal of Gerindra Party presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto from the position of Commander of Kostrad. In the survey, respondents were asked about Prabowo's dismissal from the army service by President BJ Habibie on the basis of the 1998 Honorary Board of Officers (DKP) recommendation due to the kidnapping of activists. As it turned out, only 24 percent of the public knew about this case. Meanwhile, 76 percent or most people do not know that Prabowo was dismissed as a TNI soldier. "So at the basic level of public knowledge, this issue is not a big issue," Saiful said in a survey presentation broadcast on YouTube SMRC TV on Thursday, August 31. Then, SMRC again asked respondents about whether or not Prabowo was involved in the kidnapping of activists and the assumption of his dismissal decision. From those who knew that Prabowo was dismissed from military service because he was considered responsible for the kidnapping of a number of activists, 38 percent chose Ganjar, 32 percent Prabowo, and 24 percent Anies. There are still 6 percent who do not answer. Meanwhile, 35 percent chose Ganjar, 34 percent Prabowo, 19 percent Anies, and 11 percent did not answer. With this negligible difference, Prabowo's voters did not really care about whether or not their presidential candidate would be involved. "What does that mean, Prabowo's voters don't really care about whether I know or don't know (the kidnapping case led to dismissal), I just chose Prabowo," said Saiful. Meanwhile, from those who believe that Prabowo's decision to dismiss from military service is the right decision, 46 percent choose Ganjar, choose Prabowo 25 percent, and choose Anies as well as 25 percent. There is 4 percent who do not know. On the other hand, those who are not sure that the decision is true are more likely to choose Prabowo (42 percent), than those who choose Ganjar 30 percent, and Anies 23 percent. There is still 5 percent who do not answer or do not know. "There are 46 percent of the public who believe and 39 percent are not sure that Prabowo was properly dismissed. There are still 15 percent who have not answered," explained Saiful.

For information, this survey analyzed 4,260 respondents from the population in each province. The survey margin of error with this sample nationally estimated to be +/- 1.65 percent at a 95 percent confidence level using simple random sampling assumptions.