Ganjar Pranowo: Rising star faltering in bid for presidency
JAKARTA: Ganjar Pranowo pushed his humble background to emerge as a leading Indonesian presential candidate, but his campaign has flared out in the lead up to next week’s election.
He was born in a village on the slopes of a Javan volcano, but has climbed to challenge for the presidency, a remarkable rise for the down-to-earth outsider in a political scene long dominated by elites from the era of dictator Suharto.
He had initially been touted as the favourite for the election as the successor to popular incumbent President Joko Widodo, who is a member of the same Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P).
But the smiley, silver-haired politician’s bid faltered as Widodo moved to tacitly support his main rival, the election frontrunner and Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto.
The 55-year-old, who has dressed in bomber jackets similar to Tom Cruise’s ‘Top Gun’ at campaign rallies, was ahead in the polls last year.
But momentum stalled as doubts rose about his ability to lead Indonesia after never serving in national politics and being perceived as beholden to his party chair.
In contrast, Subianto’s nationalist verve and selection of Widodo’s eldest son as his running mate saw him open up a wide lead.
According to polls, Pranowo has since lost the second-place spot that will likely face Subianto in any second-round run-off.
The former oil and gas worker shot to prominence as a vocal legislator and then as the governor of Central Java, one of the biggest jobs on Indonesia’s most populous island.
A former student activist from the Javan city of Yogyakarta, he entered politics in the late 1990s.
His humble demeanour is a stark contrast to the Suhartoera political elite who have dominated Indonesian politics since the end of authoritarian rule in 1998.
That includes Subianto, who was a top military chief under the dictator.
Stuck in the middle
Experts say Pranowo finds himself stuck between frontrunner Subianto and former Jakarta governor and main government critic Anies Baswedan.
“The public does not feel any plus value from their support to this ticket,” said Firman Noor, researcher at the governmentfunded National Research and Innovation Agency.
His fortunes have also suffered after he opposed Israel’s participation in the FIFA Under20 World Cup which Indonesia was due to host last year but subsequently lost the rights to.
Political analysts say he has also offered no landmark policies that have caught on with the Indonesian public compared to Subianto who has offered free meals for schoolchildren and free milk for pregnant mothers.
“So far it is flat, not too controversial” said Noor.