After Chief of Industry Chamber to be Chief Campaign for Election: Trillion Challenge for Election in Gigantic Population
After Chief of Industry Chamber to be Chief Campaign for Election: Trillion Challenge for Election in Gigantic Population
UPDATE October 25th, JAKARTA 4.40am
Officially two former Kadin to be Chairman of the National Campaign Team. After 1.5 months ago Arsjad Rasjid became Chairman of National Campaign Team for Ganjar Pranowo - Mahfud MD, [according to] Koran Tempo, Rosan P. Roeslani, former Indonesian Ambassador for the U.S. and just last July to be Vice Minister BUMN [specific for China business/investment issue in Indonesia / with Indonesian government], [Rosan] to be Chairman of the National Campaign Team for Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo - Gibran Rakabuming Raka.
UPDATE OCT 18TH 2023
The Chair of PDIP (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDI Perjuangan) ) Megawati Soekarnoputri alongside Strategic - Coalition team such as Sandiaga S. Uno, Arsjad Rasjid and Harry Tanoesoedibjo announced Mohammad Mahfud MD [photo= left, with glasses, parliament collection photo] as the vice-presidential candidate of Ganjar Pranowo for Indonesia Election [February 14th, 2024]. Megawati mentioned that Mahfud MD has concrete experience in the government.
Mahfud MD is currently acting as the Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs.
"The vice presidential candidate that will accompany Mr. Ganjar Pranowo is Mr. Prof. Dr. Mahfud MD," Megawati said during the declaration at the PDIP Office in Central Jakarta today, Wednesday, October 18, 2023.
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Jakarta 1.41pm / DC 2.41am / Delhi 12.11pm
Trillionaire - Entrepreneur and Chairman Perindo - the United Indonesia Party, Bambang Hary Iswanto Tanoesoedibjo (Hary Tanoe) announced that Trillionaire - Entrepreneur, President Director PT Indika Energy Tbk. and Chairman of Kamar Dagang dan Industri Indonesia (Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry or KADIN) Mohammad Arsjad Rasjid Prabu Mangkuningrat to be Chief - Campaign Manager for Ganjar Pranowo, and former TNI - Indonesia Military Chief Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI) Muhammad Andika Perkasa (2021-2022 led TNI) to be Vice Campaign Manager.
Hary said that the team will hold regular meetings, led by Arsjad Rasjid and Andika Perkasa, every Wednesday to discuss progress and campaign strategy for Ganjar Pranowo, who is set to retire as the Central Java governor today (Sept 5th, 2023), a tradition between PDIP Partai Demokrasi Indonesia Perjuangan (PDI Perjuangan)-Coalition and or ‘Jokowi’ Joko Widodo coalition since a long time ago.
4-5 Years ago, President Jokowi - KH Maruf Amin Campaign Team (for Presidential Election 2019) also held regular meetings every Wednesday in the High-End Building, part of MNC Media Complex, owned by Hary Tanoesoedibjo, just 20 ft across from the U.S. Embassy Jakarta - U.S. Department of State. This location was selected because it is in the middle of the private home of KH Maruf (Situbondo Menteng Jakarta, just 800 meters from MNC Complex) and Istana Merdeka (under Kementerian Sekretariat Negara RI) - Presidential Palace (only 400 meters from MNC Complex). High-End building located in northern gate of (entire) MNC Complex, directly adjacent with road (Kebon Sirih road), and again, just 20 ft across from the US Embassy.
Picking a VP for an election is tricky, especially for an election in a country with a population more than 200 million, and with coverage area reaching 5,000 km from East to West. In Indonesia (yes, around 5,400 km, from Aceh to Papua), so far only 1 name officially to be VP candidate: Muhaimin.
Indonesia Election [February 14th, 2024], the most complicated single-day elections on earth [even more complicated than India and US because 1 day-all in election, president, parliamentarians, Senate / DPD, and local legislators / DPRD] just 4 months from now. Feel heated. Just 1 pair already has a definitive VP. Indonesia’s ability to hold free and fair polls illustrates many of the oft-hidden processes that, beyond the simple act of casting ballots, underpin democratic societies. Contestable elections—where the government genuinely fears being thrown out of office—are a cornerstone of a real democracy. The political elite exerts an uncomfortable degree of control over the system much of the time. But on election day, power goes back to the people.
With the gigantic cost of elections in Indonesia, VP candidates are sometimes “tricky” to lure anyone for a donation campaign. Picking the Chief of Campaign Manager is also tricky, again, because not only talking about strategy to win the election but also how to get a gigantic funding.
So far:
Ganjar Pranowo does not yet have a VP, but already has a Chief - Vice Campaign Manager.
Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo doesn't have a VP also doesn’t have Chief - Vice Campaign Manager.
Anies Rasyid Baswedan already has a VP (Abdul Muhaimin Iskandar), but doesn’t have Chief - Vice Campaign Manager.
Gigantic country (in terms: territorial) and has a gigantic population such as India, America, and Indonesia, every candidate for the Presidential Election must spend gigantic money. Indian PM Narendra Modi must spend around US$115 million for his campaign. The biggest individual recipients of this money were two firms—its media planner, Madison World and chartered aviation provider, Saarthi Airways, owned by Gulab Singh Tanwar.
Gulab Singh Tanwar, a former Indian Airlines pilot, started by leasing a helicopter to the makers of the Ajay-Devgn-starrer “Kachche Dhaage” in 1999. In the election, Gulab Singh Tanwar is an integral part of the BJP’s election campaign — his Saarthi Airways provides aircraft and helicopters to the party’s top leaders, including Modi. Sam Balsara, chairman & managing director of Madison World, the media planning and buying agency that worked along with Team Modi to pull off what was the biggest ever political campaign the country has ever seen.
After Narendra Modi successfully became Prime Minister, the Government of India appointed Madison World as media advisors for all their advertising.
Contrary, The Reserve Bank of India refused the Modi government’s proposal to extract ₹2-3 trillion (around US$34 billion) from its balance sheet in 2018 for pre-election expenditure ahead of Lok Sabha polls in the following year, says former RBI deputy governor Viral Acharya.
Joe Biden raised US$1.69 billion, and Donald John Trump raised US$1.96 billion in Election 2020 — the highest ever funding for an election in the universe. 2024, several analysts say both Biden and Trump may reach (each other) at least US$2 billion - US$2.2 billion.
5 Years ago, Sandiaga Salahudin Uno, as VP candidate, pairing with Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo (lose election 2019), he (Sandiaga) spent roughly US$100 million on the campaign, but none of that money has been reported to the General Election Commission. Not clear about Prabowo, but thanks to his little brother Hasyim Djojohadikusumo (wealth: around US$3-3.5 billion) helping hundred million dollar (maybe bigger than Sandiaga’s spending), although lose the election, the “Djojohadikusumo” family was still rich. Jokowi - KH Maruf Amin, arguably spending around US$150-200 million for Election 2019.
All this money remains unbalanced with the few commitments to address Indonesia’s history of corruption, violent evictions. Many voters – the total of whom alone would make the world’s fourth biggest country – don’t share the candidates’ indifference to the industries. For them, the industry is more than just an elephant in the room; it’s also a puppet master.
For Indonesia Election 2024, the challenge for the funding campaign may be more painful for Ganjar team and Anies team.
5 Years ago, for the victory of Jokowi - KH Maruf Amin, the coalition got a lot of help not only because the Chief Campaign is trillionaire Erick Thohir and he of course has a gigantic connection of entrepreneur, billionaire, trillionaire. But because one of the integral teams is the GOLKAR Party, the Indonesia GOP.
(Left to Right: Joko “Jokowi” Widodo with Jusuf Kalla)
GOLKAR Party is famously known as the “Entrepreneur Club, Entrepreneur Political Party”, maybe the richest political party in Southeast Asia. Former Chairman of GOLKAR, Trillionaire Muhammad Jusuf Kalla was said, he spent around 500-700 billion rupiah (US$40-50 million) just to win his candidacy as Chairman of GOLKAR in 2004. Try to calculate or adjust with inflation rate, 700 billion rupiah in 2004 maybe now, 2023, is around 1.5 trillion rupiah (around US$105 million). So, to win Indonesia's Presidential Election, it needs to be 20-25 times bigger than 1.5 trillion rupiah.
Now, the GOLKAR Party has decided to support Prabowo. So, in the paper, Prabowo’s campaign is more (easy) likely to get money in 2023-2024 rather than for Election 2019. But Sandiaga now in Ganjar Pranowo side, a candidate from PDI-P, led by Megawati Soekarnopoetri, winner of election 2014 and 2019. Sandiaga chose to be PPP (United Development Party) Party high-ranking member and say goodbye to Prabowo for political reasons, creating a new political path. With the decision that Arsjad Rasjid to be Chief of Campaign for Ganjar, and not Sandiaga, the chance for Sandiaga to be a VP candidate is big. But potential VP for pairing with Ganjar is also still open for another trillionaire: Erick Thohir himself as former Chief Campaign Manager for Jokowi in 2019 (detail: during 2018 - 2019).
Sandiaga Salahudin Uno, is a major shareholder in the investment holding company PT Saratoga Investama Sedaya, whose portfolio includes coal miner PT Adaro Energy, palm oil producer PT Provident Agro, and geothermal plant developer PT Medco Power Indonesia. He also previously controlled a stake in PT Aetra Air Jakarta, which provides half of Jakarta’s piped water, but sold his stake after being elected deputy governor of Jakarta in 2017.
The problem on Ganjar's side is also (suffered case - lawsuit) by Hary Tanoesoedibyo himself, an owner of Campaigning Team office (High End building — part of MNC Group, his conglomerate businesses). The Supreme Court of the Republic of Indonesia has issued (4 days ago) a decision regarding a lawsuit filed by PT Bumi Bangun Bersatu against one of the companies, PT Bank MNC Internasional Tbk, owned by Hary Tanoe.
In the decision number 726/PDT/2023/PT DKI considers that the appeal from the original Appellant Plaintiff Counterclaim/Defendant Counterclaim has been submitted within the time limit and according to the procedure and fulfills the requirements determined by law. Therefore, the appeal can be formally accepted for consideration at the appeal level. Tanoe’s Company loses PT BBB lawsuit, and must pay 233 billion Rupiah (around US$18 million).
Specific to Erick. Same as Sandiaga, because Erick not selected to be Chief Campaign (again) like 2018 - 2019, Erick’s chance to be VP arguably bigger than last month, although some cable - secret information identified that Joko Widodo’s son, Gibran Rakabuming, to be VP for Ganjar Pranowo, to make sure or to prevent no one party coalition feeling envious because a figure was chosen while a coalition party figure failed to be elected as a vice presidential candidate.
For example, if Sandiaga Salahudin Uno, now PPP high-ranking member, selected to be VP for Ganjar Pranowo, maybe another part of coalition, such as Hary Tanoe (PERINDO) feeling envy because his cadre failed to be selected for VP (for Ganjar). Hary Tanoes is impossible to be VP because the President and VP of Indonesia must Moslem.
The problem for Baswedan - Muhaimin. Cut ties (with) Democrat Party and or former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, make Baswedan - Muhaimin so far (minimum) losing 1 trillionaire connection: Chairul Tanjung.
(from left to right: Chairul Tanjung and former President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono)
Former President Susilo is really respected by Chairul Tanjung. Susilo’s son, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, is valedictorian (best graduate) Taruna Nusantara, a most expensive school in Southeast Asia at least 1993 - 1997, and most expensive school in Indonesia at least 1993 - 2004. Chairul Tanjung son-of-law, Guinandra Djatikusumo (married with his daughter Putri Tandjung), is also valedictorian Taruna Nusantara 2009.
Another gambling by Baswedan after Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and an entire Democrat Party member angry (to Baswedan): Guinandra has a lot of connections with Singapore trillionaires, and Chinese Overseas Trillionaire. So, Baswedan lost his influence to make a (potential) funding campaign related with Susilo, related with Chairul Tandjung, and related with Guinandra.
At least, SBY or Susilo will “whatever cost” to make sure that Chairul Tanjung and Chairul’s trillionaire connection never ever funding for Anies Baswedan - Muhaimin (after angry his son, Agus Harimurti Yudhoyono, was belittled and discarded, was not made vice president candidate pairing with Anies). A lot of trillionaires who have a “close relationship” with Susilo may say no to giving money for Anies - Muhaimin campaign.
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