Mahfud MD feels connected to Prabowo-Hatta

JAKARTA. The manager of a think tank owned by Mahfud MD says that Mahfud accepted an offer from the candidate pair of Prabowo Subianto and Hatta Rajasa to become the head of their election campaign team due to similar visions and platforms.

“Mahfud and his team studied the platforms offered by Prabowo and Hatta after they offered the position to him. We saw that Prabowo’s economic programs are good,” said Masduki Baidlowi, director of the MMD Initiative, as quoted by kompas.com on Wednesday.

The pair registered their nomination at the General Elections Commission (KPU) on Tuesday in order to compete in July 9 presidential election. Afterwards, Prabowo said that he and Hatta had appointed Mahfud, who is a former chief justice of the Constitutional Court, to lead their election campaign team.

The announcement shocked many people, especially members of the National Awakening Party (PKB), which is involved in the rival coalition supporting Joko “Jokowi” Widodo and Jusuf Kalla.

Mahfud, a senior member of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the biggest Islamic organization in the country, was previously offered by the PKB as a potential running mate for Jokowi, but the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) refused the proposal and chose Kalla instead.

The PKB, chaired by Muhaimin Iskandar, is considered a representative party for NU members, and will contribute 8.39 percent of seats in the House of Representatives to the total of 37 percent represented by the PDI-P coalition, which also includes the Nasdem Party and Hanura Party.

On the other hand, the Gerindra Party, along with the Golkar Party, National Mandate Party (PAN), United Development Party (PPP) and Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) as coalition partners, will control 45.3 percent of House seats.

On Wednesday, Masduki said expert teams representing Mahfud and Prabowo had conducted a special meeting to discuss their affinities, adding that Mahfud will also meet with several clerics and ulema to ask for their support, as some of them share similar visions with Prabowo.

“Pak Mahfud will announce his decision at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon, after he receives permission from clerics and ulema,” he said. (gda)