Month: February 2024

It’s a three-way race for the top job, between current Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto and two former governors, Anies Baswedan and Ganjar Pranowo.

One of them will succeed President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, who has served two full terms.

Mr Widodo remains hugely popular but his legacy has been tainted by accusations that he’s sought to retain political influence through his eldest son, who is running alongside Mr Prabowo, a military commander under the Suharto regime.

It has prompted fears that Indonesia is in danger of sliding back towards its authoritarian past.

The outcome of the election will also have an effect far beyond Indonesia, with the winner having to contend with the growing US-China rivalry in the Indo-Pacific region.

The frontrunner to be Indonesia’s next president has tried desperately to soften his strongman image but to some voters he is still associated with abuses committed during General Suharto’s dictatorship.

The 72-year-old Mr Prabowo was a military general who married one of General Suharto’s daughters. He came from a wealthy political family but the first half of his career was dedicated to the army.

During his time as a leading officer in Suharto’s regime, he’s accused of ordering his unit to abduct and torture dozens of democracy activists.

He was discharged following this scandal and went into self-imposed exile in Jordan in the 2000s.

But he returned to Indonesia a few years later, building up his wealth in various businesses before making the jump to politics.

He’s had the money and connections to run for president two times before – losing both times to Mr Widodo.

But in the last term, Mr Widodo brought him into his cabinet as defence minister – and this is now the closest Mr Prabowo has ever been to the top job. His running mate is Mr Widodo’s eldest son Gibran Rakabuming Raka.

Though Mr Widodo has not appeared at Mr Prabowo’s campaign events, he is seen as having tacitly endorsed the Prabowo-Gibran ticket.

A possible victory for Mr Prabowo is a frightening concept for freedom fighters. They fear a Suharto-era general back at the helm of Indonesian government will drag the country back into a dark period.

From languishing at the bottom of opinion surveys, Anies Baswedan is now polling second after he criticised Jokowi’s plan to move the capital from Jakarta to a new city that is being built on Borneo island.

The former Jakarta governor instead favours the development of existing cities to boost equitable growth instead of developing a new capital from scratch.

Mr Anies, 54, has portrayed himself as the alternative to the two other candidates who are expected to continue most of Mr Widodo’s policies if elected.

He has repeatedly claimed democracy has declined under Mr Widodo and pledged to be “consistent in keeping the country away from the practices of feudalism and nepotism”.

Mr Anies and his running mate Muhaimin Iskandar will be contesting this year’s elections under the banner of the Islamic-leaning Coalition of Change for Unity. Their narrative for change has received support from conservative Islamic groups in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.

The pair has pledged to create 15 million jobs, offer easier access to credit for prospective home buyers and to upgrade infrastructure in Indonesia’s second-tier cities, if elected.

Born into a family of academics, Mr Anies spent the earlier years of his career lecturing economics at Paramadina University, before entering politics in 2013, He was appointed education and culture minister after Mr Widodo’s first victory but he has been more vocal in criticising the president after being removed in a cabinet reshuffle.

In 2017, he won the election to become Jakarta’s governor in a divisive vote that exposed religious and ethnic tensions in the Indonesian capital. His tenure saw a push for urban infrastructure in the city, but some feel he has not done enough to address perennial issues like air pollution and traffic congestion.

The governor of one of Indonesia’s largest provinces presents himself as a humble man of the people.

There’s no political dynasty or family wealth behind his rise – only a skill to connect with people on a populist agenda: it’s won him two terms in Central Java.

But he’s facing long odds in the national election without the backing of the enormously popular Mr Widodo – who was himself backed by the PDI-P for the last two elections.

In the early days of the campaign, he was seen as Mr Widodo’s shoo-in successor and analysts had him pegged as the frontrunner. But Mr Widodo has since distanced himself from his party’s campaign.

Mr Ganjar has been left to rely on his populist appeal and grassroots campaign- selling policies such as millions of jobs, social welfare expansion and making university more accessible.

His campaign trail has focused on poorer areas across Indonesia’s islands – starting in Papua in the far east and moving across the archipelago, staying in humble villagers’ homes.

The silver-haired politician had been riding high as governor until he expressed opposition to Israel’s participation in the Under-20 Fifa World Cup which was to be held in his province. Fifa then announced it was pulling the tournament from the country – prompting a backlash from football fans against Mr Ganjar.

His running mate is Mohammad Mahfud, Indonesia’s former security minister, who was also a former chief justice of the Constitutional Court.

Graham Jones, the former Labour MP for Hyndburn, is also facing an investigation, the BBC understands.

It comes after Labour withdrew support for the party’s candidate for the Rochdale by-election, Azhar Ali, for apparently making antisemitic remarks.

Mr Jones has been contacted for comment.

Labour had selected Mr Jones to contest his former Lancashire seat in the forthcoming general election.

The BBC understands Mr Jones was suspended for comments he appears to have made about Israel – but Labour has yet to identify the specific remarks.

But, on Tuesday the Guido Fawkes website published audio in which the former MP allegedly uses an expletive to refer to Israel and argues that British people who fight in the Israel Defense Forces “should be locked up”.

Ministers have confirmed that British nationals with dual nationalities can “serve in legitimately recognised armed forces of the country of their other nationalities”.

At the same meeting, Mr Ali is alleged to have blamed “people in the media from certain Jewish quarters” for the suspension of MP Andy McDonald from Labour.

The Jewish Labour Movement said Mr Jones’ alleged comments were “appalling and unacceptable”. The group later said it was “pleased” that Mr Jones had been “swiftly suspended”.

Mr Jones has been called in for an interview and the party will need to go through a formal process to remove his candidacy.

Earlier, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer insisted he took “decisive action” over comments made by Mr Ali, whose apparent remarks were published by the Daily Mail.

The party initially stood by Mr Ali when the MP hopeful apologised for telling a meeting of Labour members and councillors that Israel had “allowed” the Hamas attacks on 7 October as a pretext to invade Gaza.

However, when the Daily Mail published a fuller recording from the meeting, Labour made the decision to withdraw support.

Defending his actions, Sir Keir said: “Further information came to light yesterday calling for decisive action, so I took decisive action.

“It is a huge thing to withdraw support for a Labour candidate during the course of a by-election.

“But when I say the Labour Party has changed under my leadership I mean it.”

On Tuesday evening, former Labour MP Dame Louise Ellman said she had spoken to Mr Ali, who apologised to her for his comments.

 North West Tonight Mr Ali “should be upset” because his comments were “truly shocking” and “go against the record of the person I knew and worked with” for over 20 years.

When Sir Keir became Labour leader in 2020, he promised to tackle antisemitism saying he would “tear out this poison by its roots”.

However, in recent days he has received criticism for failing to withdraw support from Mr Ali sooner.

Martin Forde, who led a review into allegations of bullying and racism in the Labour Party, said the handling of the case had been “pretty shambolic” and it would have been “sensible” to withdraw support for Mr Ali when his comments first emerged.

The senior lawyer told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that some Labour MPs believe there is uneven handling of antisemitism cases across party factions.

Left-leaning MPs feel Labour’s disciplinary process is slow for them “but if you’re in the right faction of the party, as it were, then things are dealt with either more leniently or more swiftly”, Mr Forde said.

The Labour leader received support from Lord Mann, the government’s adviser on antisemitism and a former Labour MP.

He said it was “a bold decision, basically to throw away a parliamentary seat”, adding: “I think the Jewish community, as it reflects, will take quite a lot of comfort from the fact that Sir Keir Starmer has been prepared to do that.”

Housing minister Lee Rowley told the BBC the situation with Mr Ali had been “a complete mess”.

Although Labour has withdrawn their support, electoral rules mean that Mr Ali will still appear as the party’s candidate on the ballot paper. If elected he would sit as an independent.

Also running are former Labour MPs Simon Danczuk, now the Reform Party candidate, and George Galloway, of the Workers Party of Britain, who has campaigned against Labour’s stance on Gaza.

Asked by TalkTV’s Piers Morgan if he would bet £1,000 for a refugee charity that deportation flights would take off before the next election, the PM shook hands with him.

Labour said it showed he was “totally out of touch with working people”.

The SNP said it had reported Mr Sunak for a potential breach of ministerial rules over the “grotesque” bet.

The party’s Cabinet Office spokeswoman, Kirsty Blackman, has written to the PM’s independent adviser on ministers’ interests, Sir Laurie Magnus, and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, calling for an investigation into whether Mr Sunak broke the Ministerial Code.

In her letter, she pointed to rules that state ministers should ensure no conflict appears to arise between their public duties and private interests, and that they should not accept any gift which could appear to compromise their judgement or place them under an improper obligation.

Ms Blackman said: “Placing a bet on the lives of vulnerable refugees fleeing war and persecution is grotesque, callous and downright cruel – and shows just how out of touch Westminster is with the values of people in Scotland.

“It’s particularly shameful that Rishi Sunak, one of the richest men in the UK, thinks it’s appropriate to accept a £1,000 wager – and will remind ordinary working families that near billionaire Sunak doesn’t have a clue what life is like for the rest of us in a cost of living crisis.”

Labour’s shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth said: “Not a lot of people facing rising mortgages, bills and food prices are casually dropping £1,000 bets.”

Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Alistair Carmichael said: “Instead of placing a trashy bet on the Rwanda scheme, the prime minister should put his money where his mouth is on the soaring NHS backlog.”

The policy of sending some asylum seekers to Rwanda aims to deter people from crossing the Channel and is a key part of Mr Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats”.

However, the plan has been stalled by legal challenges, with no deportation flights taking off yet.

In an attempt to revive the policy, the government introduced legislation declaring Rwanda a safe country but the bill needs to be approved by the House of Lords, where it has faced significant opposition, before it becomes law.

The government has said it is still aiming for flights to take off by the spring.

In an interview on TalkTV, Morgan challenged the PM: “I’ll bet you £1,000 to a refugee charity you don’t get anybody on those planes before the election.”

Shaking hands with the presenter, Mr Sunak said: “I want to get people on the planes.”

Mr Sunak has said he expects a general election to be held in the second half of this year and one must legally take place by the end of January 2025.

Pressed over whether he had accepted the bet, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “What is coming through in that interview is the prime minister’s absolute confidence that we will get flights off the ground.”

Asked whether, with the government taking a hard line on gambling, this set a good example, he said: “He’s focused on doing what is needed to deliver on the priorities for the British people.”