REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Maritime Affairs Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said he did not encourage Prabowo Subianto to run as a presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential race. However, he said it was a good move for Prabowo to do.
"I do not encourage him, but if he wants to nominate himself, I think that's good," said Pandjaitan answering a reporter's question after the opening of a National Coordination Meeting in Jakarta, Sunday.
On the occasion, reporters asked about the meeting between Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan and General Chairman of Grindra Party Prabowo Subianto. According to Luhut, he and Prabowo are old friends and both have military background, so if they meet often it is just natural. There is nothing unusual.
"At that meeting, we talked a lot of things and some are funny," he said.
The senior politician of the Golkar Party added that Prabowo Subianto wanted the country to be well managed. He was asked whether the meeting also discussed about whether Prabowo is going to nominate himself as a presidential candidate for the presidential election.
According to Luhut, Prabowo is still calculating carefully, when is the right time to make declarations. "He has many things that have to be considered internally. I do not need to tell you here, even if he's going to declare as a presidential candidate, I think that's good," he said.
Previously, Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Gerindra Party, Hashim Djojohadikusumo said Gerindra Party still considered a number of things before declaring support to Gerindra Party Chairman, Prabowo Subianto, to run as a presidential candidate in the 2019 presidential election.
The Gerindra Party elite said, Gerindra Party will nominate Prabowo Subianto as a presidential candidate, and is looking for the right time to make the declaration. But until now, Gerindra Party has not yet declared Prabowo Subianto as its presidential candidate.
According to Hashim, Gerindra Party is still considering health and logistics factors before making sure to nominate Prabowo Subianto as a presidential candidate.
In the meantime, President Joko Widodo, when referring to the meeting between Luhut and Prabowo said there was nothing unusual with the meeting of Luhut and Prabowo. They often meet as they are close friends, he said.
"Oh (they) meet every day, Mr. Prabowo and Mr. Luhut are close friends," said President Joko Widodo (Jokowi at Pelabuhan Ratu, Sukabumi District, on Sunday.
Luhut and Prabowo met at the restaurant of one of the five-star hotels in Jakarta on Friday (April 6).
But President Joko Widodo admitted to not knowing the contents of the meeting."So, they meet every day, every week." Regarding what they were talking about, please ask it to Mr. Luhut," added Jokowi in Sukabumi district, West Java.
The President also did not answer whether he left a special message to Prabowo through Luhut.
In a number of reports, Luhut in the meeting revealed that Prabowo had told the story saying he is preparing to fight again as a presidential candidate.
Luhut also admitted he was quite close to Prabowo because both career in the military.
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