Jokowi picks cleric as running mate
JAKARTA: Indonesian President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has chosen 75-year-old Islamic cleric Ma’ruf Amin as his running mate in next year’s presidential election in a bid to bolster his religious credentials, he said on Thursday.
The two will likely be challenged by former general Prabowo Subianto.
On a dramatic day of political manoeuvring and intrigue, Jakarta’s deputy governor, Sandiaga Uno, was identified as a “99%” certainty by a senior official from Prabowo’s Gerindra Party to be his running mate.
Asked what the 1% doubt was, he replied “God”.
But Amin’s elevation may prompt a rethink, said Yusuf Martak, a cleric from the National Movement for Guarding Ulemas Fatwas, an Islamist group counselling Prabowo.
Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy and biggest Muslim-majority country, goes to the polls in April.
The contest, at least in terms of the presidential candidates, is shaping up as a repeat of the 2014 election, when political outsider Widodo defeated Prabowo, who has deep ties to Indonesia’s business and military elite.
Widodo is a popular moderate who has had mixed success with his reform agenda. Prabowo is a charismatic nationalist with strong links to Islamists who frequently rails against foreigners.
Amin was on a list of 10 possible candidates for Widodo but his selection came as a surprise, not least because former chief justice Mahfud MD appeared to confirm he was the vice-presidential choice of Widodo only hours earlier.
Amin is the influential head of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), who issued a statement condemning Widodo’s political ally, the ethnic Chinese Christian former Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, as a blasphemer for insulting the Koran in the middle of a heated Jakarta election campaign.
Prabowo’s candidate, Anies Baswedan, won the election, which analysts and rights advocates condemned for inflaming sectarian sentiment.
Amin has been a presidential adviser and has served in local and national legislatures in the past.
“Maybe there are questions from the people all over Indonesia why Professor Dr Ma’ruf Amin was chosen. Because he is a wise religious figure,” said Widodo.
“I think we complete each other, nationalistic and religious.” – Reuter