Power Couple
With the gubernatorial election just around the corner, Agus Yudhoyono and his wife Annisa Pohan are facing each day’s victories and challenges hand in hand. Maina A. Harjani finds out how they have become closer than ever
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“Good communication is the key to all relationships, as it is to me, especially in this busy period,” explains Annisa. “I make it a point to accompany my husband in his campaigns out on the field and during town-hall meetings.”
Campaigning in different locations throughout the city means being on the road together more often than not. Annisa tells Indonesia Tatler that the upcoming election is actually giving the couple the opportunity to spend more quality time with each other. “We have lunches in between meetings and constantly discuss campaign strategies on our drives from one spot to the other.”
Before entering politics, Agus and Annisa were both involved in their own respective fields, and, like any other career-oriented couple, they were not able to spend as much time as they do now. However, Annisa must also prioritise her daughter, Almira, amid her schedule with Agus. She makes it a point to be home every evening to help Almira with her schoolwork. The lovely young woman also juggles a career as a presenter for Trans7.
Despite their busy schedules, the couple perform their parenting skills with skill and grace—annisa is usually home when Almira is back from school, while Agus makes it a point to video chat with their daughter or drops by the couple’s home for a while during the day as and when he can.
“I also make sure to spend time with my family by going for movies and out to eat. Almira is an extremely thoughtful child who enjoys making cards for us on our birthdays and for special occasions,” Agus says. In terms of his campaign in the upcoming gubernatorial election, Agus’s vision and mission statements are directed towards a brighter Jakarta, making it safe, secure and prosperous for its people as well as providing them with the freedom they deserve.
“I would like to see Jakarta bloom into the capital city we’ve all always imagined it to be—fair and diverse with equal opportunities for everyone, as well as tolerant and harmonious,” says Agus. “Jakarta belongs to all of us and together we can move forward.”
According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Jakarta sits at the bottom of the list of 50 cities in the overall Safe Cities Index, says Annisa, making it one of the most unsafe cities in the world. This is one of the main areas Agus is focusing on.
To end our lovely chat, we asked the couple for a motto they live by: “To be there for each other and for our family, and to believe in and support each other always. In good and in bad, we’ve always promised to stand in the front line for our family.”