To Golkar's surprise, Airlangga was only offered the PKB chairman of the Prabowo-Muhaimin winning team
The Golkar Party was quite surprised after receiving an offer from the National Awakening Party (PKB), which is currently exploring forming a grand coalition with the Gerindra Party.
The reason is that the general chairman of the Golkar Party, Airlangga Hartarto, was offered to become the head of the winning team for the general chairman of Gerindra, Prabowo Subianto, as a potential presidential candidate in the 2024 presidential election (Pilpres).
In fact, at the same time, Golkar wants to pair Airlangga as Prabowo's running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
PKB DPP chairman Faisol Riza said that his party asked Airlangga to become chairman of Prabowo's winning team because PKB would pair its general chairman, Muhaimin Iskandar, as the vice presidential candidate for the Minister of Defense.
"We are happy if Mr. Airlangga becomes the head of the winning team," Faisol said after the grand coalition winning team consisting of PKB and Golkar met in the Senayan area, Jakarta, Wednesday (10/5/2023).
According to Faisol, the position of head of the winning team is quite strategic and special for Airlangga to take.
Erick Thohir previously held a similar role in the 2019 Presidential Election, who has now been appointed Minister of State-Owned Enterprises (BUMN).
Golkar was shocked
West Java Golkar Party DPD chairman Ace Hasan Syadzily admitted that he did not know about the PKB offer. The reason is that this was not discussed in the meeting of the previous grand coalition winning team.
"Frankly, I was shocked by a statement like that," said Ace when contacted by Kompas.com, Wednesday night.
According to him, in yesterday afternoon's meeting, only two topics were discussed.
First, PKB and Golkar will set a strategy to expand support for the grand coalition. Second, set the winning format for the grand coalition, if later many political parties will join.
On the other hand, Ace stressed, there has been no discussion and agreement regarding the figure of presidential and vice presidential candidates within the prospective grand coalition.
"We agreed to hand it over to the general chairmen of the coalition," he said.
Contacted separately, Chairman of the Election Winning Body (Bappilu) of the President of the Golkar Party, Nusron Wahid, emphasized that Golkar's wish was to support Airlangga as a running mate in the grand coalition.
"Golkar wants a president from KKIR (Greater Indonesia Awakening Coalition) and a vice president from KIB (United Indonesia Coalition), namely Pak Airlangga Hartarto," said Nusron.
PKB changed its attitude
Previously, PKB had opened up the option to carry Prabowo-Airlangga in the upcoming electoral contest. This was conveyed by Muhaimin when he met with Airlangga at the Plataran Restaurant, Senayan, Jakarta, Wednesday (3/5/2023).
Also in that meeting, Airlangga and Muhaimin agreed to form a grand coalition winning team, although this coalition has not been formed until now.
“Is it Prabowo-Muhaimin, is it Prabowo-Airlangga, or is it Airlangga-Muhaimin. It's still a process we're going through," he said at the time.
But yesterday, Faisol's statement actually showed that PKB wanted to continue pushing for the Prabowo-Muhaimin duet. Moreover, PKB and Gerindra have formed a partnership through the Great Indonesia Awakening Coalition (KIR).
He also claimed that the formation of the grand coalition winning team was not to discuss Prabowo's running mate.
“(The winning team was formed) for winning only (not determining cawapres). (Prabowo's win) with Cak Imin, if that's the case," said Faisol.
Kagetnya Golkar, Airlangga Hanya Ditawari PKB Ketua Tim Pemenangan Prabowo-Muhaimin
Partai Golkar cukup terkejut usai mendapat tawaran Partai Kebangkitan Bangsa (PKB) yang kini tengah menjajaki pembentukan koalisi besar bersama Partai Gerindra.
Pasalnya, Ketua Umum Partai Golkar Airlangga Hartarto ditawari untuk menjadi ketua tim pemenangan bagi Ketua Umum Gerindra Prabowo Subianto sebagai bakal calon presiden pada Pemilihan Presiden (Pilpres) 2024.
Padahal, pada saat yang sama, Golkar ingin memasangkan Airlangga sebagai cawapres Prabowo di Pilpres 2024.
Ketua DPP PKB Faisol Riza mengatakan, pihaknya meminta Airlangga agar menjadi ketua tim pemenangan Prabowo karena PKB akan memasangkan ketua umumnya, Muhaimin Iskandar, sebagai cawapres Menteri Pertahanan itu.
“Kita senang kalau Pak Airlangga jadi ketua tim pemenangan,” ujar Faisol setelah tim pemenangan koalisi besar yang berisi PKB dan Golkar bertemu di daerah Senayan, Jakarta, Rabu (10/5/2023).
Menurut Faisol, posisi ketua tim pemenangan cukup strategis dan spesial untuk diambil Airlangga.
Peran serupa sebelumnya pernah dijabat oleh Erick Thohir pada Pilpres 2019, yang kini diangkat menjadi Menterii Badan Usaha Milik Negara (BUMN).
Golkar kaget
Ketua DPD Partai Golkar Jawa Barat Ace Hasan Syadzily mengaku tak mengetahui soal tawaran PKB tersebut. Pasalnya, hal itu tidak dibahas dalam pertemuan tim pemenangan koalisi besar sebelumnya.
“Terus terang saya kaget dengan pernyataan seperti itu,” ungkap Ace saat dihubungi Kompas .com, Rabu malam.
Menurut dia, di dalam pertemuan kemarin siang, hanya ada dua topik yang dibahas.
Pertama, PKB dan Golkar akan mengatur strategi untuk memperluas dukungan terhadap koalisi besar. Kedua, mengatur format pemenangan koalisi besar, bila nantinya banyak partai politik yang akan bergabung.
Di sisi lain, Ace menegaskan, belum ada pembahasan dan kesepakatan mengenai sosok figur capres dan cawapres di internal bakal koalisi besar.
“(Pengusungan capres-cawapres) kami bersepakat untuk menyerahkan kepada para ketua umum koalisi,” tutur dia.
Dihubungi terpisah, Ketua Badan Pemenangan Pemilu (Bappilu) Presiden Partai Golkar Nusron Wahid menegaskan keinginan Golkar adalah mendukung Airlangga sebagai cawapres dalam koalisi besar.
“Kalau Golkar maunya presiden dari KKIR (Koalisi Kebangkitan Indonesia Raya) dan wapres dari KIB (Koalisi Indonesia Bersatu) yaitu Pak Airlangga Hartarto,” ucap Nusron.
PKB berubah sikap
Sebelumnya, PKB sempat membuka opsi untuk mengusung Prabowo-Airlangga dalam kontestasi elektoral mendatang. Hal itu disampaikan Muhaimin saat bertemu dengan Airlangga di Restoran Plataran, Senayan, Jakarta, Rabu (3/5/2023).
Dalam pertemuan itu juga, Airlangga dan Muhaimin menyepakati pembentukan tim pemenangan koalisi besar, meskipun koalisi tersebut belum terbentuk hingga kini.
“Apakah Prabowo-Muhaimin, apakah Prabowo-Airlangga, ataukah Airlangga-Muhaimin. Itu masih proses yang kita jalani,” kata dia kala itu.
Namun kemarin, pernyataan Faisol justru menunjukan PKB ingin tetap mendorong terwujudnya duet Prabowo-Muhaimin. Apalagi, PKB dan Gerindra sudah membentuk kerja sama melalui Koalisi Kebangkitan Indonesia Raya (KIR).
Ia juga mengeklaim bahwa pembentukan tim pemenangan koalisi besar tidak untuk membahas soal cawapres pendamping Prabowo.
“(Tim pemenangan dibentuk) untuk pemenangan saja (bukan penentuan cawapres). (Pemenangan Prabowo) dengan Cak Imin kalau itu,” papar Faisol.