JOKOWI, INCUMBENT WITH OVER 100 SPOKESMEN by Fardah

 Jakarta, Aug 15, 2018 (Antara)- Despite a controversy concerning  his running mate choice,  incumbent Joko Widodo and his team have been busy coordinating  a large political party coalition and a huge backup  to ensure his way to victory in next year's presidential election.

         Seeking second term, Widodo, who is popularly called Jokowi, has picked Ma'ruf Amin, chairman of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), as his partner, to everyone's surprise.

         They will face retired military general Prabowo Subianto, who selects Sandiaga Solahuddin Uno, young and successful entrepreneur, as his running mate, in a re-run presidential race.

         Next year's race will be a repeat of the bitter 2014 presidential election that showcased the country's divide as Jokowi went head to head with Prabowo. 
    In the direct presidential election five years ago,  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.

         The Indonesian Government has planned to organize simultaneous legislative and presidential elections on April 17, 2019.

         To achieve  victory for the second time, the political machine of Jokowi  has been working intensively by involving nine political parties joining the government coalition.

         The nine parties are PDIP, the Muslim-based United Development Party (PPP), Golkar Party, National Awakening Party (PKB), National Democratic Party (Nasdem), People's Conscience Party (Hanura),the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party (PKPI), the United Indonesia Party (Perindo), and the Indonesian Solidarity Party (PSI).  

    The coalition called Working Indonesian Coalition (KIK), has set up a national campaign team (TKN) for Jokowi.

         Vice President Jusuf Kalla has expressed readiness to be part of the board of advisors for the campaign team.

         The campaign team comprises Golkar Secretary General Loedwijck Freidrich Paulus, PPP Secretary General Arsul Sani, Nasdem Secretary General Jhonny G. Plate, PKB Secretary General Abdul Kadir Karding, Hanura Secretary General Harry Lontung Siregar, and PDIP Secretary General Hasto Kristiyanto.

         The deputy secretary generals of the team are PSI Secretary General Raja Juli Antoni, Perindo Secretary General Ahmad Rofiq, and PKPI Secretary General Verry Surya Hendrawan.

         However, the campaign team leader has not yet been disclosed to the public.

         In addition to, the campaign team has 11 directorates, respectively in charge of programming, contents, political communication, the media and social media,  campaign, first-time eligible voters, recruitment and networking, logistics and campaign equipment, law and advocacy, election witnesses, and volunteers. 
    The 11 directorates will be chaired by 11 senior politicians from the nine coalition parties - two politicians from PDIP and Golkar respectively, and one each from the remaining seven political parties.

          Johny G. Plate, secretary general of the National Democratic (Nasdem) party,  following a meeting attended by nine secretary generals of political parties, in Jakarta, recently, explained that Jokowi's presidential election campaign team is big, so its structure and work mechanism must be formulated seriously.

         He further said that each directorate will have operational teams. The team will be bigger, as every political party supporting Jokowi will have 25 spokesmen, he said.

         "These spokesmen will have respective roles in accordance with their tasked. They will first be trained," he stated.

          Meanwhile, Hasto Kristiyanto, secretary general of PDIP has confirmed the national campaign team of Jokowi, a cadre of PDIP, will include over 100 spokesmen.

          "Party cadres selected to become spokesmen are prepared to fill in public space with positive narratives for developing the public space, " he said on Aug 14, 2018, on the sidelines of a training for 108 spokesmen.

          The spokesmen are cadres of the nine political parties belonging to KIK.

        The spokesmen are told to be offensive and expose achievements of the Joko Widodo administration during his first term (2014-2019).

        "Offensive means socialization of what the government has achieved," he noted.

        On Aug 14, 2018, the national campaign team held a meeting with representatives of 20 groups of volunteers to discuss synergy efforts in supporting incumbent Jokowi in the next presidential race
   The team's members present at the meeting were Hasto Kristiyanto of PDIP, Lodewijk Frederick Paulus of Golkar, Johny G. Plate of Nasdem, Ahmad Rofiq of Perindo, and Verry Surya Hendrawan of PKPI.

        The attending volunteers represented groups supporting Jokowi, such as Seknas, Sekber Jokowi, Projo, Bara JP, and Almisbat.

    Muhammad Yamin of Seknas Jokowi remarked that the meeting discussed synergy of visions, agenda, and moves to ensure victory of the Jokowi-Amin pair.

        "Tonight's meeting is an initial gathering. More meetings will be held to synergize visions and moves," he stated.

        They also identified groups of volunteers supporting Jokowi.

        "Based on information from the previous meeting of volunteers, there are some 108 groups of volunteers at the national and local levels," he noted.

        The campaign team and volunteer groups plan to synergize their activities and narrations to win the public's trust.

        "The point is that we want to ensure that we are on the same wavelength. Volunteer groups have several activities, such as in labor, agriculture, social media, millennial, and recital fields," he noted.

        Kristiyanto, who considers Jokowi as an honest, hardworking, down-to-earth, and trusted leader, said volunteers must be able to function as shields of Jokowi and Amin and defend the pair while being attacked by opponents.

        The political machine is in place ready for the battle. The question is whether the next election will worsen the country's divide, or strengthen the national unity. ***2***
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