Ganjar-Mahfud’s electability immediately tanked, as a result of this statement. Mahfud’s decision to resign as Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister was also seen as a stunt/gimmick to boost his electability. On the contrary, it failed to produce any meaningful impact.
The fourth moment was when Prabowo-Gibran consistently demonstrated their style of fun and cool politics. This is in line with the ‘gemoy’ (cuddly) jargon that succeeded in cultivating the image of Prabowo as a bubbly, chilled, personable and adorable candidate.
The final moment was the mistake made by pairs No 1 and 3 who continued to attack President Jokowi, who commands astronomical 80 percent approval rating, perhaps the highest satisfaction level the Indonesian people have expressed for their president in the nation’s history.
With such a high approval rating, of course it would be a blunder to direct political attacks at President Jokowi. In the Indonesia Political Opinion survey on November 10-17, 2023 President Jokowi garnered the most political support with 21.6 percent, ahead of Megawati Soekarnoputri with 14.9 percent.
Destiny fulfilled
I have written several times that Prabowo-Gibran is the most interesting and potential duet in the 2024 presidential election, because they feature a military-civilian and oldyoung hybrid.
The latter factor reminded people of the Rengasdengklok incident. It refers to the kidnapping of Soekarno and Hatta by several youths in the early hours of August 16, 1945 to convince the two men to publicly declare Indonesian independence. This was seen a momentous event, one that eventually lead to the independence proclamation the next day.
Prabowo-Gibran are seen as the personification of Soekarno-Hatta dwitunggal (duumvirate). Both have their own charm to attract public support. Prabowo has the strength to target established voters (those who have already voted more than once) while Gibran is versed in attracting young voters who are the majority voting bloc in the 2024 elections. Based on KPU data, the total number of voters from the millennial and Gen Z groups is more than 113 million, accounting for 56.45 percent of total voters.
Gibran once said that approaching young people cannot be done in the “old way”. He came up with six new strategies: utilizing digital platforms, focusing on issues that matter to the youth, targeted political education, creating creative and attractive campaigns, showing transparency and honesty, and collaborating with accomplished young leaders.
We can see that Gibran’s approaches are very interesting and authentic, because he is one of them. He knows what issues are relevant to attract young voters. One of the most interesting things is his attention to e-sports. Gibran is reported to have held e-sports competitions several times. This of course won him support from this community, who have a high hope that e-sports can develop further under his leadership.
In contrast to the statements by older officials, who questioned the importance of having a fast internet connection, Gibran really understands how important internet speed is. Gibran even has a vision to make Solo the city with the fastest internet connections.
Read: Prabowo’s Speech After Winning Quick Count: Be Grateful And Wait For The Official Results From KPU
Under Gibran’s leadership, Solo City administration collaborated with Huawei Indonesia to develop the Giga City network. Solo is envisaged to become a pilot city in Indonesia for Huawei’s Giga City construction in Indonesia.
In light of the quick count results, it is clear that the Prabowo-Gibran duo succeeded in courting young voters. Prabowo-Gibran’s single-round victory seems like a destiny fulfilled. They won against all odds. It is a well-deserved victory that is the fruit of hard work. As Morgan Housel said, this is not a big phenomenon, but the result of the accumulation of countless small struggles. (Khairul Fahmi)