Military minds aim to keep Widodo in power
Indonesian leader taps ex-top brass to marshal an election win in 2019 through the 'Bravo' and 'Charlie' task forces that helped carry the day at the 2014 polls
WHEN then-presidential contender Joko Widodo looked to be faltering in the run-up to the 2014 election, it was only the arrival of the cavalry, in the form of retired general Luhut Panjaitan’s army of volunteers, that blunted a late charge from rival candidate Prabowo Subianto.
The lesson from that campaign season was clear: when the chips are down, Widodo cannot afford to rely on his ruling Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P), the second-ranking Golkar Party or any of the seven other political parties in his coalition government.
Panjaitan, the maritime coordinating minister and often seen as Widodo’s chief political adviser, is now already in the process of reviving not one, but two appropriately-coded task forces, Bravo and Charlie, to help the president win a second term at next April’s election.
A Christian Batak from North Sumatra, the special forces veteran was as surprised as anyone at the Indonesian leader’s last-minute and controversial choice of conservative Muslim cleric Ma’ruf Amin, 75, as his running mate.
Until then, the favorite had been Mahfud MD, a former Constitutional Court chief justice. But on a helicopter trip he took around East Java Muslim boarding houses a week before the nomination deadline, Panjaitan discovered influential clerics were less than enthusiastic about the choice.
Key coalition partner Golkar was likewise skeptical, mindful of Mahfud’s role in trying to disband strongman Suharto’s all-powerful machine in the wake of his 1998 downfall after 32 years in power.
PDI-P leader Megawati Sukarnoputri was said to be dead set against Mahfud’s selection as well, fearing he would make a run for the presidency himself in 2024 when her daughter, Social Affairs Coordinating Minister Puan Maharani is expected to be a candidate.
Despite Amin’s reputation as the architect of a series of fatwas against secularism, liberalism and pluralism – and the added danger of him being a heart-beat away from the presidency – Megawati comforted herself in thinking the septuagenarian Amin was too old to have a political future beyond the next five years.
Insiders say Panjaitan accepted Widodo’s decision as a sign of prevailing political realities and has climbed back in the saddle, intent on trying to shore up support among ethnic Chinese and other minorities who are having second thoughts about which candidate to support with Amin on the ticket.
Government sources say the president’s official “success team” could be 200-strong, unwieldy at best, but in an effort to improve the organization he wants it to be led by dynamic Erick Thohir, the 47-year-old chief organizer of Jakarta’s successful Asian Games.
A US-educated businessman and owner of the Inter Milan and DC United football clubs, Thohir was brought into the Asiad job in 2015 in an effort to keep spending down; his elder brother, Garibaldi, is chief executive of Adaro Energy, a major coal miner and power developer.
The president used the games to kick-start his campaign, riding into the opening ceremony on a motorcycle, openly attending some of the sporting events (where Indonesia won a record 31 medals), and giving a televised speech to the closing ceremony from the earthquake-hit island of Lombok while surrounded by displaced survivors.
It is understood Widodo rejected the idea of presidential chief of staff Moeldoko, 61, a former armed forces chief, to head the team, preferring a fresher more youthful face in an effort to attract the country’s huge population of millennial voters.
Although Widodo can expect help this time from Golkar’s well-tuned electoral machine, memories are still fresh of what happened in 2014 when Widodo saw a 10 percentage-point lead crumbling, with one unpublished Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) poll putting him only 0.6% ahead near polling day.
For all of his everyman appeal, the former town mayor was not widely seen to offer the strength of leadership many voters quietly yearned for after a decade of weak governance under president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose Democrat Party is now a Prabowo ally despite his rejection of Yudhoyono’s son as a running mate.
The lesson from that campaign season was clear: when the chips are down, Widodo cannot afford to rely on his ruling Indonesian Democratic Party for Struggle (PDI-P), the second-ranking Golkar Party or any of the seven other political parties in his coalition government.
Panjaitan, the maritime coordinating minister and often seen as Widodo’s chief political adviser, is now already in the process of reviving not one, but two appropriately-coded task forces, Bravo and Charlie, to help the president win a second term at next April’s election.
A Christian Batak from North Sumatra, the special forces veteran was as surprised as anyone at the Indonesian leader’s last-minute and controversial choice of conservative Muslim cleric Ma’ruf Amin, 75, as his running mate.
Until then, the favorite had been Mahfud MD, a former Constitutional Court chief justice. But on a helicopter trip he took around East Java Muslim boarding houses a week before the nomination deadline, Panjaitan discovered influential clerics were less than enthusiastic about the choice.
Key coalition partner Golkar was likewise skeptical, mindful of Mahfud’s role in trying to disband strongman Suharto’s all-powerful machine in the wake of his 1998 downfall after 32 years in power.
PDI-P leader Megawati Sukarnoputri was said to be dead set against Mahfud’s selection as well, fearing he would make a run for the presidency himself in 2024 when her daughter, Social Affairs Coordinating Minister Puan Maharani is expected to be a candidate.
Despite Amin’s reputation as the architect of a series of fatwas against secularism, liberalism and pluralism – and the added danger of him being a heart-beat away from the presidency – Megawati comforted herself in thinking the septuagenarian Amin was too old to have a political future beyond the next five years.
Insiders say Panjaitan accepted Widodo’s decision as a sign of prevailing political realities and has climbed back in the saddle, intent on trying to shore up support among ethnic Chinese and other minorities who are having second thoughts about which candidate to support with Amin on the ticket.
Government sources say the president’s official “success team” could be 200-strong, unwieldy at best, but in an effort to improve the organization he wants it to be led by dynamic Erick Thohir, the 47-year-old chief organizer of Jakarta’s successful Asian Games.
A US-educated businessman and owner of the Inter Milan and DC United football clubs, Thohir was brought into the Asiad job in 2015 in an effort to keep spending down; his elder brother, Garibaldi, is chief executive of Adaro Energy, a major coal miner and power developer.
The president used the games to kick-start his campaign, riding into the opening ceremony on a motorcycle, openly attending some of the sporting events (where Indonesia won a record 31 medals), and giving a televised speech to the closing ceremony from the earthquake-hit island of Lombok while surrounded by displaced survivors.
It is understood Widodo rejected the idea of presidential chief of staff Moeldoko, 61, a former armed forces chief, to head the team, preferring a fresher more youthful face in an effort to attract the country’s huge population of millennial voters.
Although Widodo can expect help this time from Golkar’s well-tuned electoral machine, memories are still fresh of what happened in 2014 when Widodo saw a 10 percentage-point lead crumbling, with one unpublished Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) poll putting him only 0.6% ahead near polling day.
For all of his everyman appeal, the former town mayor was not widely seen to offer the strength of leadership many voters quietly yearned for after a decade of weak governance under president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, whose Democrat Party is now a Prabowo ally despite his rejection of Yudhoyono’s son as a running mate.
