JOKOWI AND PRABOWO, RECONCILE OR NOT TO RECONCILE By Fardah

   Jakarta, Sept 13, 2014 (Antara) - There is no doubt that the July 2014 presidential election was the most closely contested in Indonesia's history with two pairs of candidates - Prabowo Subianto and Joko "Jokowi" Widodo - going head to head.

        Emotions were flying high, not only for presidential candidates' campaigners, but also volunteers and supporters who battled fiercely on the Internet to win votes for their respective candidates.

         The public had believed that once the campaigning period ended and they headed to polling stations across the country to cast their votes on July 9, 2014, the tension would ease and their normal life would return.

         But, political and emotional tensions have to prolong even after the General Election Commission (KPU) announced the winner on July 22, 2014. 
   According to the Commission, Jokowi and his running mate, Jusuf Kalla, won 70,997,833 votes, or 53.15 percent of the total 133,574,277 valid votes, while their rivals, Prabowo Subianto-Hatta Rajasa secured 62,576,444 votes, or 46.85 percent.      
    Following the KPU's announcement of Jokowi's victory, messages of congratulations started to pour in for Jokowi, Jakarta's governor and a cadre of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP).

         But, so far no congratulatory message has come from Prabowo Subianto. Hatta Rajasa was reportedly congratulated Jokowi personally when they recently met.

         Prabowo Subianto, retired general,  accused KPU of being unfair executor of the presidential election, and the election was marred by massive fraud and cheating. So, he decided to  bring the case to the Constitutional Court (MK).

          After holding a number of hearings,  MK on August 21, 2014, rejected  Prabowo Subianto's legal suit. Commenting on the MK's verdict, which cannot be appealed, Prabowo's team said it did not reflect substantive justice. 
   "We see the verdict fails to reflect substantive justice which is an important essence in democracy," spokesman of the Red-and-White Coalition Tantowi Yahya stated.

         He said the session system and process at the MK had ignored in-depth authentication and failed to reveal testimonies from witnesses whose number was larger than agreed upon. Although the MK's verdict was final and binding it did not reflect substantive justice for the Indonesian people, he added.

           A week later, Prabowo Subianto's team announced that they were currently preparing to apply for a judicial review in the Supreme Court (MA) regarding some regulations of the KPU.

          "The Red and White Team's lawyers are still concentrating on applying for a judicial review in MA. In MA, we will not challenge the presidential election's results, but KPU's regulations that we consider are not in line with the existing laws," Didi Supriyanto, a member of the Advocacy Team of Prabowo's political party coalition called "Red and White", said recently.

          He explained that the judicial review was not intended to reject the presidential election results or the MK's verdict on the election dispute.

          The judicial review was applied for ensuring a better process of holding the presidential election in the future, he stated.

          Since the KPU's announcement on the presidential election results, Prabowo Subianto and Jokowi have not met nor communicated until now.

          They were both used to be quite close and good friends as Prabowo had provided political and financial supports to Jokowi when he ran for Jakarta's governor. Less than two years later, Jokowi decided to run for presidency and left his five-year-tenure gubernatorial seat.         
    Chairman of the Election Organization Ethics Council (DKPP), Jimly Asshiddiqie, said that if Prabowo Subianto would be willing to congratulate Jokowi as president-elect, it could  relieve people's emotions and build healthy political traditions.

          "If Prabowo once congratulated Joko Widodo as president-elect, it could relieve people's emotions. Congratulations is good for building a tradition," Jimly Asshiddiqie said recently.

          According to Jimly, former chief of the Constitutional Court (MK), Prabowo, is a leader and a teacher for his supporters, so by congratulating and acquiescing he can provide political education for people.

          "We have to realize that a leader is a teacher who is imitated. So forgiveness and congratulations have serious significance for the function of leadership and political education," he emphasized.

          A reconciliation between Prabowo and Jokowi was called for by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "I hope Joko Widodo and his team do not constantly maintain a distance from Prabowo. It will be better if the two reconcile," Yudhoyono stated a press conference during his visit to Singapore on September 4, 2014.

          Yudhoyono noted that during the July presidential election, Prabowo garnered a significant number of votes from the people. Prabowo also managed to establish a political coalition, which holds 62 percent of the seats in the parliament.

         By reconciling with Prabowo and his supporters, Jokowi will ensure relatively smooth governance with less pressure from the parliament, Yudhoyono affirmed.

        Previously, Jokowi said there should be no reconciliation with his rival in the 2014 presidential election.   According to him, there was no tension between himself and Prabowo Subianto during the presidential election.

            "Me and Mr Prabowo are good friends. Nothing bad has happened with us," Jokowi said as reported by Republika.   
    After the Constitutional Court's announcement, Jokowi planned to meet Prabowo. "We are friends, so we have to meet," Jokowi said. But, until today, the meeting has never taken place.

          Vice president elect M Jusuf Kalla  also believed that there was no urgent need for his camp to reconcile or mend ties with rival candidate Prabowo Subianto.

        "Reconciliation can only occur if the other party has sincerely conceded defeat," said Kalla as quoted by the Jakarta Post recently. "I haven't seen any positive signs from Prabowo's camp. So we should not force it. But in order for the nation to unite, reconciliation is definitely needed after the official tally announcement," he said.

         Deputy Chief of Gerindra Board Hashim Djojohadikusumo, who is also a brother of Prabowo Subianto, was quoted as saying by Tempo.com in August 2014, that his party had no plan on reconciliation with Jokowi.

        "There is no reconciliation. There will never be," said Hashim. 
   The president-elect is scheduled to be inaugurated as the country's seventh president on October 20, 2014, to mark the beginning of a five-year presidential term that continues until 2019.***1***
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