Nusron Wahid, the Secretary of the National Campaign Team (TKN) for Prabowo Gibran, responded casually to the statement by the General Secretary of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), Hasto Kristiyanto, who opened the possibility for Ganjar-Mahfud to join Anies Muhaimin in the second round. According to Nusron, Prabowo Gibran is currently only focused on winning the 2024 Presidential Election in one round.
“Please feel free to form a coalition. We are still focusing on consistently winning for Prabowo Gibran. God willing, we can win in one round. It’s pitiful, the people are tired and fed up,” Nusron Wahid replied when asked by reporters on Sunday (14/1/2024).
However, Nusron Wahid perceived the statement of the General Secretary of the PDI Perjuangan as an acknowledgment that Prabowo Gibran is currently in the lead.
“This is actually very good news. Being prepared for the second round means that the other side also acknowledges the existing data on electability, that Prabowo Gibran is ahead. This means the claims made before, that the other side could win in one round, can be forgotten,” Nusron explained.
Regarding the assumption of some people that the merger of the two coalitions is an attempt to gang up on Prabowo Gibran, Nusron admitted that he does not want to think negatively.
“For Prabowo Gibran, we always think in a positive light. Mr. Prabowo himself always says; a thousand friends are too few, one enemy is too many,” he said.
“This means that everyone outside of the Coalition of the Advancing Indonesia, they are also friends. So, there is no such thing as an enemy. Maybe today we have different choices, but we hope that after the contest is over, we will unite to build Indonesia,” Nusron continued.
For the Prabowo Gibran pair, Nusron emphasized that the Presidential Election contest is a race to win the hearts of the people by showing their abilities as best as possible.
“Mr. Prabowo chooses the democratic path to win the hearts of the people. Not by denigrating others, staging a coup, impeachment, or creating enemies among our own brethren. So here (Prabowo Gibran), there is no concept of ganging up, or as long as it’s not person A, or as long as it’s person B,” Nusron explained.
“So let’s just present the best quality for the people. Let the people decide,” he concluded. (SENOPATI)
