Drowning Generation Z And Millennials Through Gibran Rakabuming Raka

Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka along with their supporters arrived at the KPU Building, Jakarta, Wednesday (25/10/2023). (Between/Muhammad Adimaja/aww)

JAKARTA The election of the Mayor of Surakarta Gibran Rakabuming Raka as a candidate for vice president Prabowo Subianto is predicted to deflate the votes of the pair from PDIP Ganjar Pranowo-Mahfud MD.

The Indonesia Maju Coalition (KIM) has finally officially announced Gibran as a vice presidential candidate at Prabowo's residence in Kertanegara, Sunday (22/10/2023) night, even without the presence of President Joko Widodo's eldest son.

Gibran's declaration as Prabowo's Vice Presidential Candidate came after the Golkar Party announced its support for the Mayor of Surakarta at the National Leadership Meeting (Rapimnas) which was held in Jakarta, October 21, 2023.

Gibran himself was finally able to run in the 2024 presidential election after the Constitutional Court (MK) granted the lawsuit filed by Almas Tsaqibbirru regarding the age limit for the presidential and vice presidential candidates at least 40 years or once or currently serving as regional heads.

Prabowo's decision to cooperate with Gibran Rakabuming Raka was not without reason. Whereas before officially choosing Gibran, a number of big names were said to have been approached by KIM, including Erick Thohir, Khofifah Indar Parawansa, to the General Chairperson of Golkar Airlangga Hartato.

Prabowo and Gibran finally officially registered with the General Elections Commission (KPU) as pairs of presidential and vice presidential candidates on the last day of registration, Wednesday (25/10/2023).

The row of big names was ruled out because Prabowo, who currently serves as Minister of Defense, wanted Jokowi's effect, as expressed by Political Observer from Al Azhar University Andriadi Achmad.

"Gibran is synonymous with Jokowi. Prabowo wants Jokowi's effect, he wants Jokowi's influence because during the presidential election he will still be president and have the power to control it," Andriadi told VOI.

Not only taking advantage of Jokowi's power, but Gibran's existence is also expected to break the votes of PDIP and Jokowi volunteers. Gibran has the opportunity to bull the party's voice bearing the white-nosed bull. That does not include Jokowi's loyalists in the presidential election in the previous two editions, which had the opportunity to cross into Prabowo-Gibran.

This has even been proven when the pro-Jokowi volunteer organization (Projo) declared support for Prabowo on October 14, 2023.

According to the Indonesian Survey Institute (LSI) for the period 15-18 October 2023, President Jokowi's support has the potential to increase Prabowo's vote gain from 35.8 percent to 39.2 percent. Meanwhile, support for Ganjar decreased from 30.9 percent to 25.4 percent.

The figure of Gibran who is synonymous with Jokowi has the potential to break the vote in Central Java, break the PDIP vote, and break the votes of his volunteers, Andriadi added.

"Although he did not clearly state his status as president, Jokowi must support the Prabowo-Gibran pair," said the man from Bengkulu.

In his speech at the Indonesia Arena, GBK, Jakarta, Wednesday (25/10/2023), Gibran Rakabuming Raka talked about his commitment to developing the potential of the millennial generation, generation Z to the students. Gibran is ready to fully support the younger generation.

"The things related to young people, the millennial generation, generation Z and don't forget the students, we will definitely fully support them, we need a reliable young generation, a strong young generation, a young generation who has a national commitment, once again the millennial generation of generation z, and don't forget students," said Gibran.

Young people, consisting of millennials and Generation Z, are potential voters in the upcoming presidential election.

Based on the results of the recapitulation of the permanent voter list (DPT) of the General Elections Commission (KPU), the majority of the 2024 election electorators are dominated by Generation Z and millennials.

A total of 66,622,389 or 33.6 percent of voters come from the millennial generation. Meanwhile, 46,800,161 voters from generation Z or 22.85 percent of the total 2024 election DPT reached 204,807,22 voters.

If accumulated, the total number of voters from millennial generation and generation Z is more than 113 million or 56.45 percent of the total.

Karyono Wibowo said as Executive Director of Indonesia Public Intute (IPI), this young person's voice was trying to be dredged by Prabowo through Gibran's presence by his side.

One of the preferences of generation Z and millennials is the representation of its people. And, this Gibran figure has an attraction for gen Z and millennials," said Karyono to VOI.

Similarly, Andriadi also said that the Prabowo chance to extract the voices of young people was quite large thanks to Gibran's presence.

Even though the polemic is very large in the Constitutional Court, the community also wants a young leader. Because when will you have a young leader? Abroad, there are also many young leaders and Gibran is considered to be able to represent young people," said Andriadi.

However, Karyono reminded that age is not the only reason voters make choices on the presidential and vice presidential candidates.

Gibran, as a new child in the world of politics, must be able to convince voters through his ideas. Moreover, there are still many people who doubt Gibran's ability, who has only led Surakarta for more than two years.

"Young people are not the only consideration in determining the presidential or vice presidential candidates. There are other more important considerations, namely competence, experience, ability, personality, authority," Karyono explained.

Gibran must also be able to convince and answer needs, because the need for Z and millennials is different from the boomer generation, Karyono concluded.

According to Karyono, important things that need Z and millennials include access to education and work.